Let Me Fly
by Fanfic Allergy
Summary: When a plague hits District Twelve, Katniss is forced to make some very hard decisions. Together with Gale and what's left of their families, they decide to escape District Twelve, taking a reluctant Peeta Mellark with them. Part 1 of the Mockingjay Songs Series.
1. Let Me Fly - I Had A Little Bird

Disclaimer: The Hunger Games Trilogy is property of Suzanne Collins. This is a parody fanwork by fans for fans. No money was made off of the creation of this fanwork.

**Let Me Fly**

_**by FanficAllergy & RoseFyre**_

**oOo**

Chapter One: I Had A Little Bird

**oOo**

"Katniss, I made you some tea."

I blink my eyes and open my mouth but am prevented from acknowledging my sister Prim's words because I'm overcome with another coughing fit. It's the third one in the last ten minutes. I know it won't be the last.

Prim sets the mug of tea on the table next to the bed and lifts me up into a sitting position. The coughing eases slightly, letting me breathe, and I smile gratefully at her. Five days. It's been five days since I felt the first headache signaling that I'd contracted the disease that's been plaguing Twelve for the last three weeks. The symptoms got worse from there until the only thing I could do was lay in my bed with Prim at my side and hope that I wouldn't die. Death is still a distinct possibility. Many people have already died and even more have gotten sick. My mother has been working almost non-stop since the disease began but there isn't a lot she can do. The disease is resistant to most of her herbs and the most she can do is make people comfortable.

"You need to drink this," Prim insists once my coughing has gotten under control, "It'll make you feel better."

I nod my head and take the proffered mug into my hands, letting the warmth of the cup seep into my fingers. I sip the hot liquid and wrinkle my nose at the taste. It's bitter and grassy and not even the mint Prim put in it can cover up the flavor of the medicinal herbs. I force myself to drink it anyway.

When the mug is empty, I hand it back to Prim with a raspy, "Thanks."

She takes it and puts it on the table and says, "The Hawthornes have the flu now. Posy, Rory and Vick. Mrs. Hawthorne told Mom when she stopped by this morning. Mom gave her some medicine but we're almost out of everything useful and I know Mom is keeping the rest for us just to be on the safe side."

I digest what she tells me, trying to think of something to say. There isn't anything so instead I ask, "Soup?" Prim scurries off to get me something to eat and I settle back onto the bed to think about everything that's happened. It's surprising the Hawthornes have made it this long without someone from their family going down with the flu. I guess their luck just ran out.

It started innocently enough, mimicking the typical springtime creepy crud that happens every year. Then Darius, the redheaded flirtatious Peacekeeper, died less than a day after he fell sick. He was the first of many. Unlike the seasonal flu which mostly strikes the young, elderly and infirm, this disease seemed to ravage everyone. Young and old, healthy and sick, the flu hit them all. Darius' death shocked the district, since as a Peacekeeper he had access to Capitol-made drugs and treatments. Almost overnight, more and more people fell ill and started dying. There weren't enough graves for all of the dead and the ground was too hard and frozen to dig more. Panic started to set in.

Then word came from the Capitol: the dead were to be burned, martial law was going into place, and all non-essential gatherings were cancelled. They set up the funeral pyre near the Tribute Graveyard and it's been burning ever since. They closed the school a week ago. The mines remain open, even though their work force has been decimated.

They're not the only ones - this disease has hit merchants and Seam alike.

Prim returns with a bowl of soup. I take it gratefully and lift the spoon to my lips when she says, "I signed up for tesserae."

My spoon hovers halfway up to my mouth and I ask, "Why?"

"You've been sick and people haven't been paying Mom because no one wants to pay a physician whose patients die. We needed food. It was the only way."

I make a face but I know she's right. I haven't been able to hunt or gather since I got sick and it's late enough in the winter that most of our food reserves are gone. And without Mom's income, there really isn't anything we can do.

"It's not that bad, Katniss. There was a line going out the Justice Building, kids and families signing up for tesserae. I even saw Delly Cartwright there, and she's a merchant. She wasn't the only one either."

I sip my soup and think. My sister is trying to reassure me that she's not actually in danger, and it does help, but I'm still not happy that she had to take out tesserae at all.

I change the subject. "Where's Mom?"

"She's at the Mayor's house. His wife and daughter are sick."

"I thought they could afford Capitol drugs?"

Prim shrugs. "The Mayor asked her to come. Hopefully she'll get paid."

I finish my soup in silence and Prim wanders off to do something, I don't know what. I lie down again and let sleep overtake me.

**oOo**

I wake up and it's dark out. I can feel a cool hand stroking my hair and I open my eyes to see that it's my mother and not Prim. "When did you get home?"

"Just a little bit ago."

"How are Mrs. Undersee and Madge doing?"

Her face falls. "Mrs. Undersee died this afternoon. Madge seems to be stable but I don't know for sure. This flu is just too unpredictable."

"Did you get paid?" I ask, thinking back to my sister's words earlier.

"A little. I've got to go back tomorrow and check on Madge again."

"Prim took out tesserae," I say accusingly.

My mother sighs. "She told me she was going to."

"And you didn't stop her?" I'm angry and it comes out in my tone.

"I didn't stop you," she points out.

It's not good enough. "Well maybe if you hadn't gone away I wouldn't have had to."

"You're never going to forgive me for that, are you?" she asks with a sigh.

I haven't forgiven her. I don't know if I ever will be able to. I'm not sure if I can forgive her for letting Prim sign up for tesserae either. I roll over until I'm facing the wall. My mother sighs again. Eventually she gets up and leaves the room. I'm glad to hear her go.

I stew in silence until I'm distracted from my thoughts when another coughing fit overtakes me. When it's finally over, I force myself to fall back asleep, hoping that things will be better in the morning.

**oOo**

I wake up shivering and drenched in sweat. I throw the wet covers off, struggling to find some warmth. Prim is instantly by my side. She reaches out and places a hand on my forehead. "I think your fever's broken."

I smile; it's the first good news I've had in a long time. From what my mother and Prim have told me, if the fever breaks, you're very likely to make it. Prim gets me some fresh bedding and I wrap the blankets around me and settle down into a deep, healing sleep.

Over the next couple of days, my condition slowly improves. My appetite gets stronger and my symptoms start to recede. I notice both Prim and my mother seem very relieved to see me doing better. I'm relieved myself.

Three days after my fever breaks, I wake up and get dressed for hunting. My mother spends most of her time at the Undersees nursing Madge so only Prim is home to protest my going out.

Which she does. "Are you sure you're well enough to go out?" Prim asks.

"I've already been sick, I won't get sick again, and we need food."

"We're still okay," she insists. "You don't need to push yourself."

"I can't stay cooped up in here any longer," I tell her. "I'm about to fly out of my skin and I need to do something."

"Fine," she says, relenting. "If you trade at the Hob, we could use more white liquor. Mom's been making it into a cough syrup and we're almost out."

I nod and pick up my hunting bag. "I'll try," I tell her as I walk out the door.

Outside, I take several deep breaths and note that the air smells of death and smoke under the usual coal dust. I debate stopping by the Hawthornes' to see if Gale wants to join me but I decide against it. He's probably too busy taking care of his siblings. If I get extra food I may stop by later, but not now.

Even though there's no school, I only spend a few hours hunting because it's so cold out. I set a few snares, collect some pine needles, some willow bark, and what herbs I can find for my mother. I manage to find a few rose hips and walnuts that made it through the winter and hungry animals. I'm still not feeling a hundred percent and when I try to hunt, it's one of the few times I miss my targets. I only hit one of the three squirrels I shoot at. It's embarrassing and I'm glad Gale's not here to see me off of my game. The snares do a bit better, netting me two rabbits. I finally decide to call it a day when the wind starts to pick up. I don't want to catch a chill when I've barely recovered from the flu so I carry my catches back underneath the fence and head into town.

My first stop is the bakery, since the baker likes squirrels and he's usually willing to trade.

Unfortunately, he's not there. His wife opens the door, says "Oh, it's you," and slams the door in my face.

I stand there blinking at the painted wood in shock. That's never happened before. Normally Mrs. Mellark works the front counter and either Mr. Mellark or one of their sons answers the door. Something is wrong.

Shaking my head, I make my way to the Hob. Hopefully things will be better there and if worse comes to worst, Greasy Sae will buy anything.

But when I get there, I immediately notice that her booth and four others are empty. My stomach sinks. I walk through the Hob, noticing that the secondhand dealers have heaping piles in their booths. That's not normal. I see Ripper in her usual spot and walk over to her. "Where's Sae?" I ask.

"Haven't you heard, dearie? She and that granddaughter of hers died three days ago."

I blink. "How much have I missed?"

"Plenty. District's fallin' apart." Ripper motions at the nearest secondhand dealer. "People have been bringing in their dead folks' belongings all desperate like and them's been happy to take advantage. It's enough to make a person sick." She fixes me with a look. "I wouldn't trade with them unless you're looking to buy, then you might get a good deal. Otherwise..." She trails off to let me draw my own conclusions.

"Thanks, " I tell her and mean it. It's always good to get the lay of the land.

"No problem." She eyes my bag with interest. "You looking to trade, girl?"

I nod and pull out the squirrel. "I'll trade you this for two bottles of your white liquor."

"Done," she says quickly, not even bothering to haggle.

I realize I could have gotten more for the squirrel but make the trade anyway, tucking the bottles carefully into my bag.

Since Sae is gone, I decide I should trade the spare rabbit to the butcher, Rooba. As I'm walking out of the Hob, one of the secondhand dealers, Jacob, waves at me to get my attention. "You got fresh meat?" he shouts across the Hob.

I pause. "Maybe," I say warily.

He motions for me to come over and when I do he whispers, "I'll give you coin for what you've got. Butcher's shipment hasn't come in yet and my little ones could really do with a spot of fresh meat."

I consider it. It's not worth the walk back into town if he's willing to trade coin and he's given me valuable information. I pull out the smaller of the two rabbits and place it on the counter.

He looks at it. "Three coin?" he asks.

It's the start of a spirited bargaining session with me ending up with eight coin and a new winter coat for Prim. It's more than I could have gotten before the flu.

My trading done, I head for home with the last rabbit, the herbs, the white liquor, the coat, and the money.

When I get there, my mother takes the rabbit and white liquor from me gratefully, her eyes widening when she sees the coat. "You must've had a good day."

"Not really. Everyone's so desperate for fresh meat." I pause. "Except for the bakery for some reason."

My mother's eyes narrow but she doesn't say anything about the bakery. Instead she says, "I think Madge is going to recover."

I allow the change of subject and say, "That's good. I'm surprised the Mayor didn't get Capitol medicine for her."

"There's no medicine to get," my mother says absently. "The Capitol and other districts have been hit too so there's nothing coming out to Twelve."

"Where'd you hear that?"

"I overheard the Mayor and Cray talking. It sounds like there's an epidemic going on."

_That's bad_, I think to myself, but I refrain from saying anything because Prim comes in, babbling about a mouse Buttercup caught. She's even more attached to that blasted cat now that Lady is dead. Right around the same time the flu started Lady got sick and she died a few days later. My mother refused to let us butcher her for meat, saying that we didn't know what killed her. I kind of miss the scarred goat.

I stop Prim. "I've got something for you," I say and hand over the coat.

Her eyes widen. "Thank you." She shrugs off my old winter coat that's threadbare at the elbows and slips the new one on. It's too big for her, but that gives her room to grow.

I slip the coins and herbs to my mother and take the rabbit over to the counter to start butchering it for a stew.

**oOo**

The next two days I spend more and more time out in the woods hunting and gathering what I can. The pickings are still sparse but everyone in Twelve is so starved for fresh meat that I get good prices for everything I catch.

The good deals from my trade are offset by the news that I hear from town. More and more people are dying, including Delly Cartwright, who was quite possibly the nicest person ever to exist. I hear rumblings that there's no way that the mines will be able to make their quota and that the Capitol is unwilling to accept the Mayor's excuses for the shortage. Things are getting even more dire.

One bright point occurs when Madge comes by and gives my mother a gold pin in the shape of a mockingjay as a thank you for saving her life. My mother gives it to me, saying that every woman should have some jewelry and she already has some, motioning to her locket and wedding ring. It feels weird to take the brooch and I consider selling it, but I decide that I don't want to upset Madge. Besides, the second-hand traders aren't paying much for jewelry at this point.

The first day of spring, I'm butchering a turkey when I hear a knock at the door. My mother answers it to reveal Gale on the other side. He looks haggard, with dark circles and bloodshot red eyes, like he hasn't slept in days.

"Gale, what's wrong?" My mother asks.

He leans heavily against the door frame. "Posy. My mom." He draws a ragged breath. "They're dead."

**oOo**

**AN: **

**Written: **1/20/15  
><strong>Revised: <strong>1/20/15

Hello! We're back. This time with a Hunger Games fic. As you can see, it's gonna be AU and you can see the point of divergence.

The title of the fic comes from an old African American Spiritual while the title of the chapter is from a children's rhyme from 1918 that goes:

_I had a little bird,  
>Its name was Enza,<br>I opened the window  
>In 'flu' Enza. <em>

It was a pretty broad hint of what was going to happen in this chapter. Although not as broad of a hint as the working title of "Rocks Fall Everyone Dies" which is seriously what we wrote this under. The illness itself is based on the Spanish Flu of 1918 with slightly different symptoms but a similar death rate and origin story. If you want scary, go look at the stats of that disease. It puts many other epidemics to shame.

FanficAllergy wants to apologize that she doesn't mean to keep writing fics with serious world ending diseases. It's just a convenient plot device that works within the confines of the world.

We look forward to hearing what you think of this!


	2. Let Me Fly - Carry On My Wayward Son

**Let Me Fly****  
><strong>_**by FanficAllergy & RoseFyre**_

**oOo**

Chapter Two: Carry On My Wayward Son

**oOo**

Last Time in Let Me Fly:

"_Gale, what's wrong?" My mother asks._

_He leans heavily against the doorframe. "Posy. My mom." He draws a ragged breath. "They're dead."_

**oOo**

Placing my knife on the counter carefully, I wipe my hands on a towel. Then, I walk over to Gale and put my arms around him. His body gives a little lurch and he clings to me, shaking in grief.

I suppress my own grief at Hazelle and Posy's deaths to focus on my best friend. "I'm so sorry," I say. What else am I supposed to say? I know what it's like to lose a parent but I can't imagine what Gale's feeling at this moment. I replay his words in my mind and notice two notable absences. "What about Rory and Vick?" I ask against his chest.

"Sick," he answers, then shudders. "Why, Katniss? Why? Posy didn't do anything wrong. She never did anything wrong. What did she do to deserve this? What did I do?" He draws a shaky breath. "I tried everything. Hot compresses. Teas. Everything! Nothing worked! I couldn't do anything to save her. She just died in my arms." He breaks down into huge, wracking sobs, unable to speak any further.

This is the most emotional I've ever seen Gale and I'm embarrassed on his behalf. Unsure what I'm supposed to do, I awkwardly pat his back.

Thankfully, my mother steps in and takes charge. "Katniss, you stay here with Gale. I'll head over to the Hawthornes'. Prim, finish cooking the turkey, then join me."

Gale looks up, his face red with tears. "Please. Don't tell anyone my mom's dead. We can't go to the community home. We can't!"

My mother looks torn. It's against the law to hide a dead body, but she understands why Gale's asking this of her. Gale is already eighteen and if they go to the community home, the kids don't really stand a chance. All community home kids are required to take out tesserae and even during a good year several die from starvation or disease. I can't imagine how bad the conditions are now that there's a plague going on. "Alright," she finally says.

My mother leaves and I lead Gale into the bedroom to give us some privacy.

"I'm so sorry," I say. "I - I don't know what to say, I'm just so sorry."

"It's not your fault," he says automatically. "You were sick too. You couldn't have known. I just - I did everything I could, and they just died." He starts to sob again, this time it's quieter, less broken. I awkwardly pat his back and he throws his arms around me and holds me like I'm a lifeline.

I let him. Thankful that, for now, my own family is safe.

**oOo**

Misfortune strikes Gale again two days later when his youngest brother, Vick, dies. The boy never stood a chance. Like so many of the flu's victims, he had a seizure and died only minutes later. As with Hazelle and Posy, we don't report his death. Instead, we place his body into the empty root cellar of one of the abandoned houses in the Seam alongside his mother and sister. We don't want to keep the bodies at the Hawthornes' in case someone stops by, and there are several empty houses in Twelve because whole families have died in this outbreak.

On a more positive note, Rory's fever breaks and he starts asking for food, signaling that he's starting to get better. It's a small but welcome victory.

The day after Vick's death, I'm sitting with Gale in his house. The place feels so empty and sad now that three of its inhabitants have died.

Gale must feel it too because he says, "I can't stay here, Catnip."

I nod. "Do you want to move in with us? There's not really room, but we can figure out a way to make it work."

He smiles at me weakly. "That's not what I meant, but thank you."

My eyes narrow. "So what did you mean?"

"I meant I can't stay here. In District Twelve. Not anymore. If Mom and Posy were here, maybe. But I've got forty-two slips in the bowl and Rory took out tesserae right before he got sick. With so many people dying like flies, I'm sure to get called. What'll happen to Rory then? I can't let him be taken to the community home, I can't. Kids die there all the time and it's worse now that everyone's sick."

I agree with him. It's why I hid my mother's condition after my father died. "So what do you plan on doing?" I ask.

"When Rory's regained his strength, we're going to leave. Under the fence, into the wild."

"Where will you go?"

"Somewhere. Anywhere. Just not here."

"Why are you telling me this?" I'm confused. If I were planning on leaving, I wouldn't tell anyone. It wouldn't be safe.

Gale reaches over and grasps my hand. "Because I want you to come with me."

I gasp.

"Think about it, Catnip. We could do it. We're both strong hunters and trappers and we know these woods. We could find a home and make it out there," he tells me in a rush.

I make a face but hold up one hand for him to stop. I do think about his offer. Gale's made a good point. With so many teens dying, the chances of being Reaped have increased. Even with so many people taking out tesserae, it's not going to matter. I have twenty slips in that bowl, Gale's got forty-two, and what would happen to our families if we died?

That brings up another point. "What about my mother and Prim? I can't just leave them here."

"So bring them with you. I'm bringing Rory. Between the two of us, we can feed five people."

He's right, we can. We have been for several years. Still, I'm not ready to commit to something so life shaking. "I need to think about it," I tell him.

He lets out a relieved breath, I can tell he was expecting me to say no. "That's fair," he says. "Just don't take too long. I'm not planning on being here when Reaping Day comes around."

**oOo**

I spend the next day thinking about it, avoiding Gale and spending as much time as I can out in the woods.

Gale's right, I think again as I shoot another squirrel through the eye, we probably could feed both of our families. It's what we've been doing for the last few years and without the distractions of school or other things we could devote ourselves to hunting and gathering. But where would we go? That's the big question. The Capitol keeps us in the dark about the locations of the other districts. All I know is that the former District Thirteen is up north someplace. That might be a place to start.

I think about the two people we saw captured in the woods last year. They were heading someplace north but they still managed to get caught. We're going to have to be careful wherever we go to not attract the Capitol's attention.

And that's when I realize it. I've made up my mind. Even though it's dangerous and unknown, staying here in Twelve isn't an option any more. Prim's had to take out tesserae and people are still dying from the flu.

It's time to leave. The question is how and where.

I gather my kills and head back into town and to Gale's house.

When he opens the door a few seconds after I knock, he says, "Well?"

"I'm in," I say in a low tone so that I won't be overheard.

"Good." He motions for me to come inside.

I do. "So now what?"

"Now we get ready."

"I need to talk to my mom about this."

He makes a face but nods. "What about Prim?" he asks. "Are you going to tell her?"

I shake my head. "No. She'll want to say goodbye to her friends and we can't risk that."

"Same thing for Rory."

I fix him with a half smile. "You realize we're going to have to take the damned cat with us."

"I know," Gale answers with a sigh. "Don't remind me."

**oOo**

Gale and I head back to my house to find Prim and my mother cooking dinner.

Prim brings two bowls over for Gale to take back home, but he stops her. "I think Rory would appreciate seeing someone other than me. You think you can bring dinner over and sit with him for a few hours?"

Prim brightens. "Of course!" She quickly packs up the food, puts on her coat and heads out.

As soon as Prim leaves, my mother turns to us with a small smile on her face and says, "That was a neat job of getting her out of the house. Is there something you want to tell me?"

"Actually, yes," I tell her.

"I see." She removes the pot from the stove. "Should I be seated for this?"

"That'd probably be for the best."

She sits nervously at the table and Gale and I sit across from her. "Okay, I'm sitting. What's this all about?"

"Mom," I pause and look at Gale. "Gale and I have been talking, and...we're leaving."

"What?"

"We're leaving Twelve. It's not safe here." He proceeds to outline everything we'd discussed, from our increased risk of being Reaped to our ability to survive in the woods. As Gale talks, I see my mother's face go from concerned to thoughtful. Good, she's actually listening.

When Gale's finished, my mother says, "That wasn't what I was expecting. And now I wish that you'd told me something less shocking, like you were pregnant and Gale's the father."

I blink and shake my head. "I'm not sure if I should apologize or not."

"Don't. Have you really thought this through?" She fixes Gale and me with a stern look.

"I think so. What do you mean?"

"Where are we going to go?" Gale and I start to outline our plan but she stops us. "How will we avoid being found? We're going to need fire. The hovercraft that patrol the area will see the smoke."

Gale and I share a glance. "Um, I'm not sure? It's something we hadn't really thought of."

"I thought so." My mother gets up and says, "Think about it for a moment. I'll get dinner. We're not done."

As we eat dinner, my mother brings up several points we hadn't considered. I'm a little impressed that she's put this much thought into leaving District Twelve and she says, "Solomon and I discussed it when we first got married, but before we could actually go, I discovered I was pregnant with you." She motions to me with her spoon. " Making the trip wasn't something we could do with either a pregnancy or a young child. We planned on leaving when you girls got old enough, but then that mine accident happened and your father died and that was that."

"So...where were you planning on going to?" Gale asks, his eyes intent.

"Solomon heard from his father that the reason we have to dig so deep is because there are several seams of coal on fire up north and there's nothing the Capitol can do to put them out. He figured, if we were near enough to one of these mine fires, our fire wouldn't be noticed."

"But what about the fumes?" Gale wants to know.

My mother smiles. "There are coal seams are all over these mountains and lots of them are on fire from even before the Cataclysm. There's no telling where one seam ends and the next begins. Our fire could be just another bit of smoke coming to the surface finally. We just need to keep it burning."

"So," Gale asks, "are you in?"

"I am. I've been in since before you were born." My mother turns to look at me. "We were planning on leaving a few days after your twelfth birthday the second time."

"Why then?" I wonder.

"Because we wanted to get the tesserae portions to make traveling food."

"Oh."

She smiles sadly and turns back to Gale. "So when were you thinking of leaving?"

"Well, we planned on going as soon as possible," he tells her.

My mother shakes her head. "I suggest we wait until Katniss and Prim get their tesserae portions. Why don't we plan on leaving on April 15th?"

That'll give us twenty days to prepare and get the stuff we need without arousing suspicion. And having more food for the trip is not a bad plan. Gale and I both nod.

"You know," my mother says, "Prim is not going to leave without her cat."

Gale and I both sigh. "We know."

**oOo**

We spend the next several days planning and gathering supplies. My mother makes the suggestion that we replace most of our clothing with garments that are in better condition and oversized so that Rory and Prim have something to grow into.

My mother agrees with our decision to keep the news of our imminent departure from Rory and Prim. They wouldn't be able to keep their mouths shut and both would want to say goodbye to their friends, which would give us away. This causes some problems because we have to keep our preparations even more of a secret.

Each of us has our role to play. My mother automatically takes responsibility for acquiring medical and gardening supplies as our head healer but surprisingly takes an interest in logistics as well, even raiding the school library for some romance novel anthology that she'd read as a teenager which took place during prehistoric times. I'm not sure how useful it will be, but if nothing else we can use the pages for kindling. Gale is relegated to getting some of our more difficult tool needs. As an eighteen year old, it's understood that, if he survives his last Reaping, he'll be moving into a house of his own and might have need of construction supplies. And it's known he has five family members to take care of including women, so he can get items for both sexes where it'd be odd if I did so. As for me, my job is to get enough food and money from trade so that we can get the supplies we need.

At my mother's suggestion, we also increase how much we eat each day so that we can put on a little weight and build up our strength. There's no need to try to stretch food out because whatever we can't carry, we have to leave behind, which is something I'm unwilling to do. These extra rations almost tip our hand because while Rory will happily eat whatever's put in front of him, Prim is used to not having enough so she notices the surplus and comments on it. Gale and I have to spin some story about bagging a deer and selling it to the butcher whole for a hefty sum. It works, but mostly because my sister is trusting rather than because the story is believable.

Because of Prim and Rory, Gale and I start to store what non-perishable supplies we can out in the woods. Things like tools and packs and other travelling supplies all go into the same hollow log where I store my bows and arrows and under the overhang by the blackberry bushes.

On one trip back from the woods after we've dropped off several cooking utensils, we spot someone on the inside of the fence moving around. Gale and I immediately drop to the ground and hide under several low bushes.

We can hear the person moving and talking to themselves and the voice is vaguely familiar. I hazard another glance and see a head topped with wavy blonde hair. I duck down again before the person can turn around. But I know him. I know who it is. It's Peeta Mellark. I sat behind him in several classes when school was still in session. No one else has hair like that. I wonder what he's doing so far out of town.

Gale and I are forced to stay hidden for almost an hour. So long that the cold starts to seep into our muscles, making it hard to move when the coast is finally clear. We stand up and stretch our stiff limbs.

As we do so, Gale asks, "What's Mellark doing out here?"

I'm surprised Gale recognized him. He must have gotten a clearer glimpse of Peeta than I did. "I don't know," I answer. "You'd have to ask him."

Gale snorts and I shrug. It's none of my business.

**oOo**

"I think we need more white liquor," my mother says three days before our scheduled departure.

"So soon?" Prim asks, looking up from where she's playing with Buttercup.

"I've been going through a lot with this flu. That cough syrup is the only thing that seems to be working." She glances at me meaningfully, this isn't for future flu victims, it's a supply that she thinks we're going to need when we leave.

"I'll pick some up when I trade at the Hob today," I say.

My mother nods her thanks. I put on my jacket and head out to meet Gale, who's waiting for me by the hollow log. We've started storing what clothes we have out in the woods as well, expanding into another hollow tree near the overhang. Gale has canteens and miner lunch pails with him, he must have picked them up this morning. Those will be useful.

The weather's getting nicer even though it's still cold and the animals are starting to come out a bit more, so we end up doing pretty well. At the end of the day, we have two squirrels, two rabbits, and a goose that I am not planning on trading. Gale takes the goose and one of the rabbits to my mother while I take the squirrels and the other rabbit to the Hob.

Remembering my mother's request, I head straight for Ripper's booth, and as I walk up I notice Haymitch Abernathy, our only living Victor, is there ahead of me.

Ripper spots me coming and smiles widely. "What've you got for me today, dearie?"

I take the larger squirrel out of my bag and set it on the counter.

She looks at it smiling even wider. "Same deal as last time?"

I shake my head. "Three."

The smile fades slightly but she still says, "Done!" without even attempting to haggle.

I should've asked for more.

Haymitch looks at me, his eyes taking in my appearance. They linger on the mockingjay brooch pinned to my shirt that's now exposed by the strap of my hunting bag. "Willing to share some of that bounty?" He waves his hand at me.

I've never traded with the former Victor before so I don't know where to start. "What are you willing to give me?"

"What do you need?" he counters.

I think through all of the things we've gathered. We've been having difficulty finding a hatchet, but I don't know if Haymitch will have one - but he might have something that's valuable enough to trade for one. "I gotta see what you got before I trade you any of my liquor," I say.

He shrugs. "Come with me, sweetheart."

He leads me through town to Victors' Village and we go inside the messiest house I have ever seen. He drops his satchel and I hear a clink as it hits the ground. I look around, taking in the empty liquor bottles, soiled clothes and spoiled food, and notice, half-buried under a pile of rubbish, the familiar shape of an axe. I point to it. "I'll take that."

He follows my finger and makes a face when he realizes what I'm asking for. "That's worth a bit more than a bottle of liquor."

I reach into my bag and pull out the other squirrel. "You can trade this for more."

His eyes light up. "You got yourself a deal, sweetheart." He motions for me to get the axe. "Take good care of that thing. Got it from a friend of mine in District Seven. She ain't gonna take kindly to knowing I traded it away."

I shrug. "Like I would tell."

"Makes me curious, though. What a girl like you plans to do with a weapon like that."

A little dart of fear zings through me. "My father's broke and I need it to chop wood."

He narrows his eyes at me and walks me to the door. "You need to work on your lying, sweetheart. If anyone asks, say you swindled it out of an old drunk. Ain't far from the truth."

I nod my head and make my escape, the axe clutched tightly in my hands.

**oOo**

We spend the next couple of days making hardtack and other travel foods while Prim and Rory are banished to the Meadow to gather what fresh edible greens are around.

After lunch on the day before we plan to leave, my mother stops Prim and Rory from going out again. The two share a glance and sit back down nervously. "What's wrong, Mom?" Prim asks.

I take a deep breath. "Prim. Rory. There's something we need to tell you."

**oOo**

**AN:  
>Written:<strong> 1/21/15  
><strong>Revised:<strong> 1/22/15

The title of this chapter is from the song of the same name by Kansas. We felt that the lyrics fit what was going on with Gale and this is a very Gale-centric chapter.

Minor points to whoever figures out what book Mrs. Everdeen snagged from the library.

We actually know EVERYTHING that they are taking with them but in order to save you, dear readers, from reading a long list of stuff we just hit the highlights. It also allows us some wiggle room for if we need to add an item later. Let's just say that the smallest list of stuff a character is taking has 31 items on it and the fact that it's in a multipage spreadsheet so that we can keep track of it. We also calculated weight (based off of the D&D Item list and Amazon (Thank you shipping weights)) and caloric value of all of the food they will be taking… Can you we're a little anal? We are.

Additionally, one of us practices herbalism and foraging in real life and has actually done preserving and some of the primitive skills that come up. The other lives in Manhattan and admits that she has no skills in this area so anything wrong is all the other's fault.

As a note, we're going with the same names that FanficAllergy used in her Spectator verse. They aren't the same people, but it's just easier to use those than to try to think up new names. Laziness for the win!

Let us know if you have any questions. We love questions.

We look forward to hearing what you think!


	3. LMFAin't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around

**Let Me Fly****  
><strong>_**by FanficAllergy & RoseFyre**_

**oOo**

Chapter Three: Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around

**oOo**

Last Time in Let Me Fly:

_After lunch on the day before we plan to leave, my mother stops Prim and Rory from going out again. The two share a glance and sit back down nervously. "What's wrong, Mom?" Prim asks._

_I take a deep breath. "Prim. Rory. There's something we need to tell you."_

**oOo**

Prim looks between our mother and me in confusion and growing concern. I immediately feel bad for keeping her in the dark like we have.

Before my sister can speak, Rory asks a question. "Gale? What's going on?" I flinch internally, I've been so focused on Prim that I forgot that Rory has had even more cause for concern.

Gale opens his mouth to answer Rory's question when Prim can't hold it in any longer. "Are you two getting married? Are you pregnant? Oh no, that's it! You're pregnant. I knew it! You've been so tired and not wanting to eat and in the mornings you've been nauseous. And I can't remember the last time you had your period." The words spill out of her mouth like a waterfall. She's talking so fast that no one can get a word in edgewise and she seems to take our silence as confirmation. "That's it, I'm right. You're pregnant!"

"No! Why is that the first thing everyone asks?" I glare at Gale. "This is your fault."

He holds up his hands. "Don't blame me. I'm not the one jumping to conclusions," Gale says, pointing at my mother and Prim. "They're the ones who seem to think you're knocked up!"

"You're not helping," I growl then take a deep breath. "No, Gale and I are not getting married and I am not, under any circumstances, in any situation, in any way, shape, or form, pregnant! Got it?"

Rory and Prim nod their heads solemnly. Rory looks confused and asks, "So what's going on?"

"Somebody else take this," I say. "I'm done."

My mother steps up and takes over, explaining that, tomorrow morning, we're leaving District Twelve. It goes over about as well as I expected.

"I'm not leaving without my cat!" Prim interjects partway through the explanation.

"We know," my mother, Gale, and I chorus.

"We think we've figured out a method to carry him with us. We'll need to pacify him a bit with some catnip. It's going to be your responsibility to see that he stays fed and doesn't run away. If he runs, we're not going after him," I warn.

Prim looks petulant but nods her head, understanding that I'm not being unreasonable. "Can I at least say goodbye to my friends?"

"No," my mother says. "We can't let anyone know we're leaving. You understand why."

"No, I don't understand! My friends aren't gonna tell! They're my friends! They wouldn't do that! And I won't ever get to see them again! Not ever! Even the tributes get a chance to say goodbye!" She's working herself up into a fit.

I crouch down in front of her and take her hands. "You're not a tribute, and with luck, you never will be," I say. "If we get caught trying to leave, we will get killed. All of us. The Capitol doesn't care how old you are. I can't have you go into the Games. I just can't."

Prim squeezes my hands but doesn't say anything, I can tell she understands now why we've had to keep quiet but that she still doesn't like it. She doesn't have to like it. She just has to live with it. I don't want to leave Twelve either but I can't take the chance that Prim or I will get reaped. And now she understands too.

"Why are we leaving now?" Rory asks.

"We want to leave while everyone's still dealing with the flu, while there's all this confusion going on," my mother answers, seeing that I'm still dealing with Prim. "We're less likely to be missed."

"No, that's not what I meant," he says with a shake of his head. "Why are we leaving now? Why didn't we leave before, when Mom and Vick and Posy were still alive?"

"The chances were better then and Posy and Vick were too young to travel. Now, with everybody being so sick and dying, the chances of you or me being Reaped have gone up," Gale says. "Same's true for Katniss and Prim. I can't lose you too. And what would happen to you if I got Reaped?"

We don't need to keep explaining. Both kids know our chances, how many slips we have in the bowl. They understand that circumstances have changed. We could talk about it for hours but it wouldn't change the outcome. We need to leave, the sooner the better.

"Do you have any more questions?" Mom asks. Both kids shake their heads. "Good. We've got a lot of work to do."

**oOo**

Later that afternoon, Gale returns from the bakery, where he was buying a bunch of bread for the trip. We'd decided that we wanted to spend all of the coin we'd had saved since there will be no use for it out in the wild. My mother, Gale and I are each going to hit a different shop while the other two stay back to make hardtack and meat pies for travel food. Also, none of us wants to leave Prim or Rory alone. We don't quite trust them not to go tell their friends that we're leaving. And additionally, if one person went to every store, it might be suspicious. By splitting up, it looks more like normal shopping.

Gale sets the bread down on the counter with a thud. "There's something weird going on at the bakery," he says in greeting.

"Oh?" my mother asks, looking up from where she's folding the dough around the cooked goose and root vegetables.

Gale snags a carrot and pops it into his mouth. "They're really pushing these new herb biscuits, claiming they'll help protect you from the flu."

My mother frowns. "That doesn't sound like Matz."

"His wife was the one at the counter," he says with a shrug, reaching over to grab a turnip slice. "She was in even more of a mood than normal. Even tried to sell me one."

"That's all really interesting, but if there's nothing else, I'll head out now," I say. "Try not to eat all of our travelling food while I'm gone."

I put on my jacket and head out. I've got two stops to make: the butcher and the apothecary.

I stop by the apothecary first to get a few essential oils and other things that don't grow near Twelve. My mother also asked me to see if I can get morphling or any other Capitol drugs that might be available. I'm not sure if I'll be successful. Capitol drugs are expensive and in short supply even during the best of times. I'm sure they're going to be out of stock or unreasonably priced but I've agreed to check anyway.

When I get there, I see Madge Undersee, the mayor's daughter, at the counter. She's got a box in her hands and she's arguing with the apothecary.

"No refunds," the man says, crossing his arms over his chest. "I don't take used medicine."

"But my mom didn't use it," Madge protests.

He shakes his head. "Doesn't matter. Once it leaves the store, it's used. Them's the rules that the Capitol made and I've got to follow the rules."

Madge sighs and gives up, pulling the box back. She turns around to leave and sees me. Her eyes brighten. "Katniss! It's so good to see you! I'm glad to hear that you're better!"

"Thanks. I'm glad you're better too," I reply. "Sorry about your mom."

"Me too." She pauses, looking down at her hands and the box. A weird expression crosses her face and she seems excited. "Hey, wait a minute. Your mom's a healer, right? Do you think she could use this morphling? He's not gonna take it. Says that it's against the law or something." She gestures at the apothecary who just shrugs.

I'm a little surprised at her abrupt offer but I'm not about to turn it down. "I'm sure my mom could use the morphling. What do you want for it?"

She shoves the box at me. "Oh no, you can just have it."

I shake my head and push the drugs back at her. "I can't do that. I can't take charity."

"It's not charity if it helps people." She pushes the box forward again.

We have a weird little tug of war with each of us trying to push the box of morphling at the other. Finally I get tired of the game and take a step back, holding up my hand to stop Madge from following. "Enough. Look, I can give you this," I say, revealing the pin. "It was yours, right? I'm sure it's got meaning for you."

"It does, but I gave it to your mom and I'm glad to see you wearing it. It should be worn. And I can't." She doesn't explain why.

I make a face. The pin's not useful and I'd hoped she would have accepted my offer. Now I have to come up with something else. I pull out two coin. "Well, it's not much, but I can give you this."

"Alright," she says, taking the coins, although I can tell she's not happy. She hands me the box.

I take it and put it in my bag. Part of me wants to say something to Madge, to say goodbye, but I fight down the urge. She may be my closest friend other than Gale, but even she can't know we're leaving.

"Have a good day," Madge says.

"You too," I respond.

She leaves the store and I turn back to the apothecary. "What do you want?" he asks, obviously amused at the bartering going on in his store.

There isn't much of a selection, but I still manage to find a few useful things, I get a good deal and what he calls 'the family discount.' I know he's my mother's little brother so he's technically my uncle, but other than trading, we don't interact at all. I see an old woman glaring at me from the back room and can guess why.

I finish my business then head over to the butcher. There, I spend the last of my share of the coin on food that can travel easily: dried sausages and dried smoked meat.

When that's done, I head back home. My mother takes the last of our combined coin and heads for the general store.

I turn to Gale, Rory, and Prim. "So what else needs to be done?"

**oOo**

With the last of our chores and shopping done, Gale heads out into the woods to drop off what things we can leave out there overnight and to stop at his house on the way back to make sure he hasn't forgotten anything, since this is the last time he's going to be there.

He comes back with a few miscellaneous items and Posy's doll. "I know it's not necessary, but I just couldn't leave it behind." His voice is full of emotion. He hands the doll to Rory who retreats into the bedroom with it. None of us say anything to condemn either Hawthorne.

We understand.

By mutual agreement, we all sleep at our house. Gale and Rory share one bed while my mother, Prim, and I share the other. I'm not used to Gale and Rory's snores and Gale isn't used to my sister's cat making a nest on him in the middle of the night. None of us sleep very well but I don't know if that's because of nerves or the night noises or both.

We wake up before the sun rises and get dressed. Prim puts Buttercup into the cat-carrying case that my mother made from my old school bag. He goes into it willingly for her, but she gives him some catnip to keep him docile anyway.

The rest of us pack up all of the food we're going to take with us. I scour the house, making certain we haven't left anything edible behind, even pulling out an old packet of dried meat that I stashed under my bed just in case something happened, as well as an old dented can from underneath the sink that holds who knows what. My mother raises an eyebrow at the stashes and I shrug. I don't bother to explain. My mother should understand why I hoard food.

By the time we finish, the sun has risen and the first shift at the mines has started. This is good. We don't want to run into anyone.

The morning is cold but clear. I'm grateful that it's not raining or snowing. April's weather is really unpredictable and it's the one thing that could have prevented our leaving.

We get to the Meadow, thankful that we haven't run into anyone who might ask us about the packs on our backs or all the clothes we're wearing. We head towards the hole in the fence, not bothering to keep quiet. All of us feel a bit of exhilaration and anticipation. It's a beautiful day. The birds are singing. The wind is gentle. Nothing could go wrong.

Which of course means it does.

As we pass a large bush, I hear someone say "Katniss?"

I whirl around to see who's spoken and start when I see it's the baker's youngest son, Peeta Mellark.

I'm not the only one surprised to see him. "What in the hell are you doing out here, Mellark?" Gale asks. His hand is inching towards his knife.

"Gathering herbs. What are you doing out here?" His eyes flick to each of us, taking in our packs and clothing.

This is bad.

My eyes catch Gale's. I can see he's made up his mind: Peeta Mellark must die. I can't allow that.

I take a step forward, placing myself between Gale and Peeta. "We're just heading out into the woods to gather a few things."

Peeta stands up slowly and regards me seriously. "You're really not a good liar, are you?"

I shake my head, noticing out of the corner of my eye that Gale is moving around the bush to flank Peeta so he doesn't try to run away while we're still figuring this out. "No, I'm really not."

A smile ghosts across his lips. "It shows. So what are you doing out here, really?"

"What are you? I've never seen you gathering herbs before." I deflect the attention back onto him so he doesn't notice Gale.

"I haven't. Not until recently. My mother had this idea that we could sell herb biscuits to take advantage of the hysteria surrounding this whole flu thing. They seem to be selling well, especially to the Peacekeepers, so we run out of ingredients a lot."

"But why you? Couldn't one of your brothers gather the herbs?"

He shrugs. "I volunteered. Gets me out of the house."

I don't blame him. Mrs. Mellark is a really difficult woman to put it nicely.

I can see Gale is almost in position so I ask another question. "What kind of herbs are you gathering?"

Peeta pulls a root out of his bag. "I think this is ginger. It kind of smells like it, and it tastes good in cookies. But my mom says it's not 'medicinal' enough..." He trails off, his eyes widening. "You're trying to distract me, aren't you?"

I flinch guiltily.

"And it worked, too," Gale says from behind Peeta, his hunting knife held menacingly in his hand.

"Katniss...what's going on?"

Gale doesn't let me speak. "It's none of your business, Mellark."

Peeta shifts slightly to keep a better eye on Gale and the rest of us. "Since you're holding a knife on me, Hawthorne, I think it really is kind of my business."

Right then, Buttercup lets out a drugged meow from inside the bag that Prim's carrying and Peeta's eyes zoom right to it.

Everybody winces. I am going to kill that blasted cat.

"Was that a cat?" he asks, almost as if he doesn't believe it.

"No," I say.

He ignores my protestation and starts to speak as if he's talking to himself. "Why would you be carrying a cat? Who in the hell carries a cat into the woods?" He looks more closely at our bags and our clothing and he gasps. "Oh my God. Oh my God! You're running away!"

I open my mouth to protest but I know, no matter what I say, it'll sound like the lie that it is. Slowly, I nod my head.

"Observant of you, Mellark," Gale says, his voice hard.

Peeta looks between Gale and me. "Why - no, it's none of my business. Just go. I won't tell anyone. I promise."

"That's right, you won't." Gale takes another menacing step forward.

"Gale, you can't kill him. It'll draw too much attention." I don't even know why the thought of Peeta Mellark dying bothers me so much, but I just know that I can't let him die. He saved my life when I was eleven years old. I can't take his.

"Katniss, you can trust me. I'll keep your secret," he pleads. "I won't tell a soul, I give you my word. Just let me go."

We can't do that either. I look at Gale. He looks at me.

"Your word's not good enough, Mellark."

"What can I do to make you trust me? I won't tell, I promise. I swear on everything I love, everyone I love." He looks at me oddly before continuing, "I won't betray you. I'll swear on whatever you want. Just let me go."

"No can do, Mellark, we can't take that chance. You're coming with us."

**oOo**

**AN:  
>Written:<strong> 1/25/15  
><strong>Revised:<strong> 1/26/15

The chapter title comes from an old Civil Rights song that was sung by protesters in the American South while on their marches or while in jail. The lyrics are about how the people are going to keep walking until they get freedom and nothing is going to stop them. And well, they really fit what this chapter is about.

So yeah, we'd planned on having Peeta come with them the whole time.

We are still keeping it vague about what they are taking with us, but the majority of it is food, clothes, and tools. There are some odd things as well but we're going to keep them a surprise.

There are a few in jokes hidden in here for readers of FanficAllergy's other works.

We look forward to hearing what you think!


	4. Let Me Fly - Into the Woods

**Let Me Fly  
><span>_by FanficAllergy & RoseFyre_**

**oOo**

Chapter Four: Into the Woods

**oOo**

Last Time in Let Me Fly:

_"What can I do to make you trust me? I won't tell, I promise. I swear on everything I love, everyone I love." He looks at me oddly before continuing, "I won't betray you. I'll swear on whatever you want. Just let me go."_

_"No can do, Mellark, we can't take that chance. You're coming with us."_

**oOo**

Gale motions for me to slip under the fence while keeping his knife trained on Peeta. Once I've gotten to the other side, he tells my mother, Rory, and Prim to join me. When they're clear, he says, "Now it's your turn, Mellark."

Peeta doesn't move. "Come on, Hawthorne, you don't need an extra mouth coming along with you."

"You're right, I don't," Gale growls, running his fingers along his hunting knife. "But Katniss doesn't want you dead for some reason, and I'm gonna respect that. But if you're gonna live, you're going to do so on my terms. Got it?" He jabs the blade in Peeta's direction to emphasize his point.

Peeta just nods and shrugs. I notice he didn't actually agree to Gale's terms, he's just refusing to argue right now. Probably smart of him.

It's best solution I can see. We can't leave Peeta alive in Twelve. I know he says he won't tell on us and part of me wants to believe him. But I can't. We can't. There's going to be a manhunt and rewards posted when it's discovered that we're gone. It's happened before. Someone tried to run about two years ago, the Peacekeepers tortured their friends and family and offered a pretty sizable reward for information. Someone came forward and the man was caught and hung. It's what happened to our first Victor as well.

I wish I could be sure of Peeta but I can't. But I can't let Gale kill him either. I owe him my life. I can't take his. Only if I didn't have another choice, like in the Games, would I even consider it. Even there, I'd try to find a third option.

I'm jerked out of my thoughts when first Peeta, then Gale, wriggle under the fence.

"So now where are we going to?" Peeta asks.

"Rory's with Katniss, the rest of you are with me," Gale states then turns to me. "We'll meet up at our place, Catnip."

I nod.

Rory and I quickly make our way through the woods to collect my bows, arrows, and the other supplies we've stored there. Once we have everything, we head to the blackberry bramble.

When we get there, Prim is helping my mother sort the supplies into piles while Gale guards Peeta, whose hands are now tied in front of him.

It seems to be a recent development because he asks, "Are you planning on keeping me bound the whole way?"

Gale shrugs. "I'm thinking about it."

"Well that's just stupid. Look, I can carry some of this for you. I'm strong. And you've got a lot of stuff here." He's looking at our piles of supplies. He's not wrong. It's also clear he's trying to convince Gale and the rest of us to keep him alive and unbound.

My mother looks up. "He's got a point," she says to Gale. "I'm carrying the next heaviest pack after you, and I'm not sure I'll be able to handle it." She holds up the small hatchet from the Hawthornes and the head of a shovel. "And unless we lighten our load somehow we're going to have to leave stuff behind."

Gale makes a face. He looks at me. "What do you think?"

I consider it. We deliberately planned to be overburdened for the first few days, knowing that a lot of the weight is food and we'd be eating it along the way. I don't want to leave anything behind and knowing my mother, she'd insist we leave food behind, which I can't do. I look at the various piles, taking inventory. The axe I got from Haymitch is leaning on Gale's pile along with the majority of our carpentry and gardening tools. My mother has most of our other raw materials. We might be able to leave some of our extra clothes behind, but I'm reluctant to do so. We don't know how to tan leather and it's likely to take us a while to learn. We do have an extra bag and I've seen Peeta carry hundred pound bags of flour with ease. If Gale or I could have a significantly lighter load, it would free us up to use our bows, either for hunting or protection, which is what I tell Gale.

Gale grimaces again. "Fine. But I'll be keeping my eye on you, Mellark."

"I wouldn't expect anything else, Hawthorne. But I think you're going to have bigger worries than me," Peeta shoots back.

My mother and I supervise the redistribution of the packs. We give Peeta the heaviest load, but we make sure that none of our essentials or any weapons are in his pack. Gale would have a fit if we gave Peeta something he could use against us.

My mother comes up to Peeta. "Is it okay if I go through this?" she asks, holding up his bag.

"Do I have a choice?" He sounds resigned.

She shrugs and looks over at Gale.

"No, you don't," Gale says, motioning for her to go through it.

"Of course not," Peeta snaps. "I'm just your prisoner, aren't I?"

I sigh. I hate having to be the diplomat. I'm no good at it. Still, I try. "I'm sorry about that, really I am. You have to understand we just can't take the chance that you might slip - I know you wouldn't say anything on purpose, but something might come out."

"I'd never betray you, Katniss. Never!"

His vehemence shocks me a bit and I distract myself by looking at what Peeta had with him. There's not a lot in Peeta's bag. He has a few herbs he must've gathered before we stumbled across him, a notebook, pencil, eraser, small knife, and gardening trowel. In addition, he has a paper bag full of stale bread and rolls and a smaller one with several broken and burnt cookies.

My mother frowns at the cookies. "Matz hasn't burned anything since we were teenagers," she says.

Peeta looks over at her. "That's because he didn't bake them. My brother, Rye, did."

"That doesn't sound like Matz. His father didn't let Matz bake cookies until he'd mastered the ovens with less costly pastries," my mother presses. "I can't see Matz allowing you boys to bake the cookies until you got all of the burning out of you."

"You think we wanted to burn the cookies? You think we didn't know we weren't ready? My father didn't let my brother do anything! My father is dead."

We all stop what we're doing and look at him. His grief is visible on his face.

"I'm sorry," my mother says. "I didn't know."

My sister moves to comfort him and I struggle to figure out what to say. 'I'm sorry' just doesn't seem good enough. I liked the baker. He was a kind man who always gave me a little extra when I traded with him.

I reach out to pat Peeta awkwardly on his shoulder when his voice stops me. "Just - just leave me alone. I'll be fine. I don't need any false pity." He stops and scrubs at his face with his bound hands.

"Well, you're in good company," Gale says. "I'm sorry about your dad. But we still can't let you go."

"Yeah, I know that." He sighs. "Fine, I'm in. At least on the bright side I don't have to go home to my mother's horrible cooking."

**oOo**

With our packs redistributed, Gale unties Peeta and shoves the pack at him. Peeta grunts a bit at the force of the pack hitting his stomach, but shoulders the heavy bag easily. That settled, we head off toward the northwest so we can skirt the edge of District Twelve. Eventually we'll want to turn more north and east but only once we've gotten clear of the area.

I'm in the lead followed by Rory and Prim. My mother and Peeta come next with Gale heading up the rear. We're lucky it's a sunny, if cold, day. Not only can we navigate with ease, but Gale can also see what tracks we're making and do his best to camouflage them. The ground is soft from the recent snow melt and spring rains so his job is harder. What we really need is a good hard rain to wash our boot tracks away, but not right now. Not while we're so close to Twelve.

I don't need my bow but I keep it out anyway. Nothing crosses our path. We are making way too much noise. After Gale, my mother is the most adept at moving through the woods, which surprises me a little. I wonder if my father taught her. But Rory, Prim and Peeta make up for it, stepping on what I swear is every dry leaf and twig. If I were out hunting, I'd be about ready to shoot them all, but for travelling it doesn't matter.

We set a fairly grueling pace. We need to get as far away from Twelve as possible. We make decent time, stopping only long enough to relieve ourselves or refill our canteens at fast moving streams.

I call a halt around midday. We all sink to the ground, shrugging off our packs gratefully. None of us is used to carrying that much or walking that much. My mother makes us take off our boots and socks to check for blisters.

Everyone is fine, other than Rory. The poor boy is wearing new boots that are too big and apparently didn't pad them properly.

My mother sighs and rummages around in her pack for some witch hazel and instructs me to dig up a few dandelions. She needs the fresh sap to apply to the skin.

I move off from the group and Gale joins me. I'd been hoping to avoid talking with him about Peeta until later. It looks like I'm not so lucky.

We find a small clearing and I start to gather what herbs and greens are available. I try to ignore Gale. But that doesn't work.

"What was that, Catnip?"

"What was what?" I counter, gathering a few wild carrots.

"Back there in the Meadow. Why wouldn't you let me kill him?" he presses.

I bend down to uproot a solomon's seal plant while I think of what to say. "Prim."

"What about Prim?" he asks, the confusion evident in his tone.

"I didn't want to have her see you kill someone. How would you feel having Rory see you slitting Peeta's throat?" I counter, digging up another plant.

He makes a face, thinking about what I said. I use the time to move away from him and further into the clearing.

There are several things here I can gather in addition to dandelions like burdock, wild onions, and daylilies. I want to wait to gather the dandelions last so that their sap is still fresh when we get back to where the others are but I'd be an idiot not to take what chance I have to augment our limited food supplies. We'd initially planned on having about two and half weeks of food with us, but with the addition of Peeta to our group we now have less than that. I wonder if we'll be able to find a place to settle before our food runs out.

Gale rejoins me. "You make a good point. I wouldn't want Rory or Prim to see that, but we could have sent them on ahead with your mom and taken care of Mellark then," he argues.

I frown. I was hoping he'd accept my admittedly weak explanation. "Yeah but then we wouldn't have anyone to spread out the supplies to. I don't know about you, but even with my lighter load I'm still feeling worn out. I can't imagine how much worse it would be if he wasn't carrying as much as he is." It's a flimsy argument and I know it.

Gale knows it too. "That's not a good reason. I admit he's a good packhorse, but we could've made it without him. And adding him means that we're gonna run out of food quicker. Give me another reason."

I struggle to keep the wince off of my face. I was hoping he'd let the subject drop. I don't like explaining myself but Gale isn't going to let it go. I try a different tack, "There would be nowhere to hide a body without it being found. Leaving it inside the fence would just be stupid, and outside the fence they'd notice the scavengers."

"And that would be a good thing!" Gale shouts. "They'd notice scavengers, find his body, and assume he left Twelve on his own. They wouldn't be looking for us, Catnip! Now they will! He's putting us all in danger. I know you know that. Enough of these bullshit stories. Give me the real reason!"

I can't tell him the real reason. The real reason is too personal and I'm not even really sure how to put it into words. But I do have one last trump card. I don't want to use it. But I have to.

"Gale," I say slowly, "how sure are you that you'd beat Peeta in a fight?"

He gives me a look. "I had a hunting knife," he states flatly.

"It doesn't matter," I say, shaking my head. "He came in second in the school wrestling competition last year. He could turn that knife against you or take it away from you or something. I know I couldn't win in a hand-to-hand fight with him. Are you sure you could?"

"I'm bigger than him."

"Bigger doesn't always mean stronger. I've seen him carry hundred pound bags of flour with ease," I pause and then bring up my final point. "Even if you did win, it's likely you'd have been injured or worse and then where would we be?"

I don't wait for his response. Instead I go over to the dandelions and start gathering them.

"You're right, Catnip," he finally admits several minutes later. "There's no guarantee he wouldn't mess me up a bit before I took him down. I guess I should say thank you."

I let out an internal sigh of relief. "You're welcome. Come on. We need to get back. Mom wanted these for Rory's blister."

**oOo**

We set off again after Gale cuts each of us a walking staff. We move slower than we did in the morning to try to save our strength, but it's still tough going. None of us is used to this much physical effort and I find myself calling a halt every hour or so just so that we can rest for a bit before pushing on.

A few hours before sunset, we reach a swiftly moving, shallow stream. I pause, refilling my canteen and purifying the water with iodine I procured from the apothecary. I eye it thoughtfully and when the rest of the group joins me I turn to Gale and ask, "What do you think about walking through the stream for a bit to throw off any trackers?"

He considers it, pursing his mouth while he thinks. "It's an idea." He crouches down and feels the water's temperature. "It's going to be cold, though."

"We should do this sooner rather than later," I say. "It's not going to get any warmer."

"I agree," he says with a nod. "How do you want to do this?"

"I think we should take off our shoes and walk upstream for as long as we can stand it," I tell him. "If you can, I'd like you to lay a false trail so that it looks like we just crossed the stream and kept going."

"I can do that," he says. "I don't think that Prim and Rory will be able to handle it for long."

"I can do it!" Prim says, her hands on her hips. "I'm not as weak as everyone thinks I am!"

"Me either!" Rory adds, mimicking Prim's stance.

My mother just rolls her eyes and starts to unlace her boots. Peeta follows her example, rolling up his pants legs when he's done.

I just sigh. "Fine. But no pushing yourself past your limits. If it starts to be too much, you tell me! Got it?"

Both of them nod.

Gale jumps over the stream and starts laying down a false trail. The rest of us step into the cold stream.

"Fuck that's cold!" Rory exclaims loudly as he enters the water.

"Language!" Prim scolds.

We start moving upstream. "Sorry! It just slipped out," Rory apologizes.

But Prim isn't letting it go. "That's no excuse! There are ladies present!"

I turn around to glare at them and notice a smirk hovering on my mother's lips.

The two continue, oblivious to the world. "You sound like Effie Trinket!" Rory says petulantly.

"You take that back!" Prim gasps in outrage. With that tone, she does sound like our District escort, but I'd never tell her that.

Rory has no such compunctions. "No way! It's true! You sound Effie Trinket! You sound like Effie Trinket!"

"You take that back, Rory Hawthorne! You take that back right now!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Would you like to tone it down a little, you two?" I snap at them. "I don't think they heard you in District Twelve yet."

Both twelve-year-olds look guilty and fall silent.

Peeta laughs and comes up alongside me. "I thought it was cute."

"It's also really dangerous," I grumble. "Sound carries in the woods and someone's going to come looking for you."

"Only if my mother notices I'm gone," he says with a shrug. "She's not going to expect me back until dinner at the earliest and…" he trails off.

"And what?"

"It wouldn't be the first time I didn't come home overnight," he admits sheepishly.

That's news to me. "Where did you stay?"

"With friends, sometimes," he replies. "The Cartwrights would let me stay with them, but that ended when Delly died. Lately, I've been sleeping in abandoned houses in the Seam."

"Why?" I can't keep the question from slipping out of my mouth.

He gives me a look I can't decipher.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to pry. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," I say contritely.

Peeta shakes his head. "No, it's alright. I don't mind telling you." There's a slight emphasis on the word 'you' that confuses me. He takes a deep breath and says, "My father was one of the first to die of the flu back in February. Things weren't great with my mother before. After he died, she got so much worse. It was almost like she was angry that my father had the temerity to die and leave her in charge of the bakery. Nothing Farl, Rye or I did was good enough for her. Then she started coming up with all of these money making schemes and when they inevitably failed she'd take out her anger on us. I mean, who wants to eat moldy bread even if it's supposed to cure the flu? Things got pretty bad."

I want to apologize, but I know that the words would just be empty platitudes. So instead, I nod my head, encouraging him to continue.

"It was Farl's idea for us to take turns staying someplace else for a few days to get away from Mother. He'd stay with his fiancee and her family. Rye was like me, most of his friends were either sick or dead and so he was the one who suggested sleeping in some of the abandoned buildings. It was a little morbid, a lot of the houses had dead people in them. I tried to avoid sleeping in those but sometimes I didn't have a choice."

My stomach churns, thinking that Peeta might have been sleeping in the same house as the one we'd hidden the Hawthornes in. "Didn't that bother you?"

"Yeah, it really did. I learned to check out the house I planned on staying in pretty thoroughly before sleeping there. I felt bad that the people had died, but there wasn't anything I could do and it was the only safe place I could stay."

"Your mom didn't notice you were missing?"

"Not unless she wanted one of us for something specific. We learned we could stay away for about two to three days without her figuring out we were gone if we were careful about it."

"Careful how?"

"The other two would distract her and we made sure that we didn't take too much food." He snorts. "How messed up is it that my mother would register that a loaf of bread was missing before discovering that one of her sons was gone? Still, just getting a few nights away was worth the beating she'd give us when we came back if she even had noticed we were gone."

"What's going to happen when she does notice you're missing?" my mother asks. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop."

Peeta glances back over his shoulder. "It's okay and I have no idea. I'm worried about what's going to happen to Farl and Rye when I don't show."

"Do you think they're going to report you missing?" I ask.

Peeta shakes his head. "No. They wouldn't want to get me in trouble. They'll just assume I need the break. It wouldn't be far from the truth."

We don't talk any longer because Gale rejoins us. It's a painful, difficult trek and I'm starting to shiver a little from the cold, but we push on even though I'm starting to lose feeling in my feet. Twenty minutes later, my mother tells us we need to get out of the water.

Gale tries to protest.

But she shakes her head saying, "No arguing. Prim and Katniss are shivering and I'm starting to feel the preliminary effects of hypothermia. In fact, we're going to need to stop and make a fire so that there aren't any permanent effects from walking in water this cold."

"It's not safe to make a fire," I say through chattering teeth.

"We have to get warm. The temperature is already starting to drop and it's going to be close to freezing tonight. We don't have a choice," my mother insists.

"Fine, we can stop," Gale reluctantly agrees. "But we can't risking having a fire once it gets dark. It's too visible and we're too close to Twelve."

"How far have we travelled today?" Rory asks.

"About fifteen miles," Gale answers.

"It seems longer," Prim says.

I shake my head. "No, Gale's right. We've maybe walked that far."

We get out of the stream. I'm grateful; I've lost feeling in my feet. My mother builds a fire and instructs Rory to fill the large bucket and one of the pots that we brought with us. When he returns, she immediately starts boiling the water.

"Why are you making so much boiled water?" I ask.

"We've been hovering on the edge of hypothermia and the temperature maybe hit forty five degrees today. While we were moving, we were able to keep our body temperature up. But since we've walked in the stream and it's going to turn to night and we've stopped moving, there's a serious risk of hypothermia."

I nod, accepting my mother's explanation. I'm too cold and tired to even consider hunting or gathering any food today.

We take out our meat pies and start eating, extending our feet toward the flames. Prim offers Peeta one of hers and he gives her a few of his cookie pieces in exchange.

She smiles at him but sets the cookies aside to go take care of Buttercup. When she opens the bag, the stench of feces and urine wafts across the campsite.

"Ewwwwwwwwwwwww! Gross!" Prim exclaims.

My mother looks up from where she's using the smaller pot to make tea with the ginger roots Peeta had collected. "What did you expect him to do? Just cross his legs and hold it?"

"I don't know! I've never had to think about it before!"

"Go clean him and the bag up and we'll try to figure something out," Gale tells her. "Maybe a lead of some sort."

Prim puts on her socks and boots and takes Buttercup and the bag and heads downstream to wash them both off. We hear the cat yowl a few times. He really doesn't like getting wet.

I shake my head. "That damn cat."

My mother hands me a cup of ginger tea. "There was no way we could leave him behind. She loves that cat."

"It's really inconvenient." I take a sip of the tea, savoring the warmth.

Gale rummages through his pack and pulls out some string. He starts to braid it into some kind of lead for the cat. He shrugs and looks over at me. "We'll see if it works."

About a half hour before dusk, we put the fire out. My mother makes sure each of us has a canteen full of hot water and there's still hot water in the bucket and ginger tea in the pot. We run into a snag when we realize that we only have five blankets, and with the addition of Peeta we now have six people. My mother hands Peeta her blanket and says, "Prim and I can share."

He tries to refuse. "No, don't worry, I'll be fine."

My mother shakes her head. "Just take it." My mother is on first watch, so she starts pacing around the campsite to keep herself warm and awake while the rest of us burrow into our blankets and try to sleep. None of us have slept outside before, so we don't really know what to expect. It's almost impossible. The ground leaches the warmth from our bodies and the rocks and twigs jab into our sides painfully.

Eventually I manage to drift off. Gale shakes me awake what feels like only minutes later. "It's your watch, Catnip."

The water is now cold but I take a drink anyway. I get my bow and quiver and peer out into the darkness. It's still several hours from dawn and without a fire, the forest is dark and forbidding.

A little bit after false dawn, I hear it. Several somethings crackling through the underbrush. I nudge Gale. "There's something out there. Wake the others."

Gale flings the blanket back and shakes Peeta awake. Good. We're going to need all the help we can get. There's more than one of them out there.

I nock an arrow and try to make out any movement in the pre-dawn light.

I don't have long to wait. I hear the unmistakable howl of a wild dog calling the pack.

And then they're upon us.

There are four of them. Medium sized but still menacing. And they charge at me, growling and snarling.

I loose one arrow and one of the animals lets out an anguished yelp. It's not a kill shot, but the animal is out of commission for now.

I nock another arrow and fire. This time my aim is better and another dog drops.

There's still two left.

I sense Peeta moving to cover my left flank. While someone else is on my right. I don't have time to see who it is when another of the dogs charges.

Peeta intercepts it with his walking stick. He's limited with how hard he can swing but he still manages a solid hit. I loose an arrow at point blank range into the dog.

It falls.

The remaining uninjured animal disengages and retreats into the woods. The person on my right, Rory I see, walks forward toward the dog I'd injured.

It's lying on the ground, whining in pain.

The twelve year old pulls out his knife and plunges it into the wounded animal's side.

It falls silent.

The attack is over.

We won.

So why do I feel so much dread?

**oOo**

**AN:  
>Written: <strong>1/29/15**  
>Revised: <strong>1/30/15

The title of this chapter comes from the musical of the same name. Shocked, we know. It fit.

Yes, we killed the baker. We liked him but it needed to happen for plot reasons that will become more apparent over time. We realized later that by doing this that the only person in the group who might have both parents still alive is Mrs. Everdeen.

We need to talk about survival and what will kill you. Katniss and crew, for all that they're good hunters and gatherers, are still novice survivalists. We chose deliberately to have them underestimate the environment and overestimate how much they could carry. We didn't want them to be perfect and frankly bringing Peeta along saved their asses in terms of what they can carry. He's also got other skills that will become relevant later. The thing that most people seem to forget about survival is that the most common cause of death for people in the wild isn't starvation or even dehydration, it's exposure. Hypothermia can and will kill you and maintaining a core body temperature of over 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) is imperative. We chose to show that with both the walk in the stream which wouldn't cause frostbite but it would cause problems with lowering the body temperature and with their decision to not build a shelter or maintain a fire. They had their reasons, but they were still problematic. There will be consequences. They're lucky that Mrs. Everdeen is a healer and knows the signs, or things might have gotten a lot worse.

Now, we need to talk about Randomization. We decided pretty early on that rather than planning out EVERY SINGLE LITTLE DETAIL we were gonna use a randomizer for non-essential plot points. There is one event later on that literally is a going to be a huge deal that was totally decided by the randomizer and it took 8 different determinator rolls to get there.

Starting in this chapter, we're going to include a list of all of the events that took place that were thanks to Mr. Randomizer.

- The Blisters and who if anyone got them.  
>- Would Katniss hunt or gather after setting up camp?<br>- How long would Mrs. Mellark take to notice that Peeta is missing? (We do know how long and you'll find out later)  
>- How many wild dogs were there? And what time did they attack and is anyone injured and if so who?<p>

Thank you for reading. We are currently working on chapter nine so that we can keep with this weekly publishing pace.

Please take a moment to leave a review! We look forward to hearing what you think!


	5. Let Me Fly - White Rabbit

**Let Me Fly  
><em>by FanficAllergy &amp; RoseFyre<em>**

**oOo**

Chapter Five: White Rabbit

**oOo**

Last Time in Let Me Fly:

_The attack is over. _

_We won. _

_So why do I feel so much dread?_

**oOo**

We're not able to sleep after the attack, so instead we pack up our camp, doing our best to try to make it seem like we never stayed there. While Gale attempts to remove any evidence of our fire, my mother distributes the day's food. Early on, we made the decision to limit how much food each person gets every day so that we don't accidentally go through it too fast. It's enough that we won't starve, but I still like to supplement what I can by hunting and gathering.

The day starts off cloudy and quickly turns into a light drizzle. It's not so bad under the trees, but we keep running into these long straight fields with no trees. It's weird. And we can't help getting wet.

I'm glad I had the presence of mind to note which direction the sun rose from because otherwise we'd be walking in circles. When we reach another one of these long thin clearings that's heading in a general northeasterly direction, we decide to follow it, keeping slightly under the trees to avoid the rain. Our ears are peeled for the sound of pursuit.

There isn't any.

We call it a day early. Deciding it's safe enough, Gale and I make a small shelter for us against the edge of a fallen tree using hemlock and pine boughs for our walls and roof. Rory and Prim spread a thick pile of soft fir boughs on the ground.

"That's better but it's still not enough," my mother says, surveying our work. "Do you think we can set a fire?"

Gale shakes his head. "No. We're still too close to Twelve and we don't know if they're looking for us yet."

My mother sighs. "We've got to do something to keep warm. We've been walking in the wet all day and it's just going to get colder at night. I'm going to suggest something, and I know you're going to hate it, but it's either this or a fire." She looks at me pointedly.

There's a growing pit of dread in my stomach. I can guess what she's about to suggest.

"We need to share body heat," she states. "I think Prim and I were probably the warmest ones last night, and we were still miserable. So I think we're going to need to pair up and each pair sleep under two blankets."

"How's that gonna work?" Gale asks. "We only have five blankets and there's six of us."

"I think it'd be smart if we had two people on watch," my mother reasons. "The two on watch can share one blanket while the remaining four of us can each have two."

"Fine. I'll take Mellark." He glares at Peeta who's trying his best to remain unthreatening.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Gale," my mother objects.

Gale turns his glare to my mother. "Why the hell not?"

"You'd be distracted," she answers.

"Distracted by what?"

I think I can guess where my mother's coming from. "I think you'd spend the entire time watching Peeta instead of our surroundings," I say. "I'll take Peeta."

"Oh hell no!" Gale explodes. "There is no way I'm trusting Mellark on a watch with any of you!"

I'm taken aback by the force of Gale's objection. I've never seen him react this way before. "Gale," I say, "Peeta's not going anywhere. Where would he go? How would he get back to Twelve? He's not used to the woods like we are and at this point I'm not sure any of us could find Twelve easily! He has no idea how to navigate and no weapons. Just what do you think he's going to do?"

Gale clenches his fists. "He could kill you, Katniss! He's got no stake in this. No reason to stay. I don't trust him not to hurt you and run off."

"I would never hurt Katniss!" Peeta exclaims.

"I don't trust you!"

"Do you trust me to be able to defend myself? I'm the best shot out of the two of us and I know how to use a knife. Peeta's unarmed. I can handle him," I interject, trying and failing to keep the annoyance out of my voice.

"That's not what you said yesterday!"

"I'm not arguing with you anymore, Gale! Peeta and I will take the last watch. I'll need to take a bearing anyways when the sun rises."

"Prim and I will take the middle watch," my mother says hastily to prevent Gale from protesting further. "We got the most sleep last night."

"That leaves you and Rory on first watch. If it makes you feel better, Hawthorne, you can glare at me all night," Peeta finishes. I can tell he's both amused and frustrated with Gale's insistence that he's a threat.

Gale glowers at all of us. "Fine! I can see I'm outnumbered." He stomps away then pauses at the edge of our campsite. "If you lay one hand on her, Mellark, I will kill you."

That's when it hits me: sharing a watch with Peeta means I'm going to be sleeping with Peeta. Just what have I volunteered myself for?

After a quick rest, I go out to try my luck at getting something for dinner. We've eaten the last of our meat pies and I don't want to break into our hardtack and dried food just yet. I manage to shoot a small squirrel but I don't see much out. I take the squirrel back to camp. "I think we can chance a small fire to cook this," I announce, tossing the animal at Gale.

He catches it and looks at me questioningly.

"You work on that. I'm going to try to gather some vegetables to go with the squirrel."

Peeta perks up. "Do you mind if I join you?"

I shrug. "Sure. No problem."

I try not to notice how upset Gale looks as we walk away.

We head toward where I saw a small stream paralleling one of the long thin clearings. I make a beeline towards it. When we get there, I uproot several cattails and Peeta copies me.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"Okay with what?"

"Sharing blankets."

I shrug. "It's not my preferred solution, but what other choice do we have? My mother's right, we were too cold last night."

"I'm sure we could figure something else out. Maybe I can borrow some more clothes from Gale, and you can take the blankets."

"I don't think that's gonna work."

"I just don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"Too late." The words come out harsher than I intended.

Peeta whirls, his blue eyes snapping. "Do you think I wanted to be kidnapped? That it was my goal to make you uncomfortable? To make Hawthorne's life hell?" He's gesticulating wildly, working himself up with every word. "Well fuck that! I was just trying to get away from my mom for a few days. Forget for just a little while that my dad's dead and my mom hates me and my brothers so fucking much that she'd rather hit us than hug us. I didn't mean to get in your way. And I sure as hell didn't mean to get dragged along with you. So I'm sorry if that makes you feel uncomfortable, but you're the ones that got me into this."

I'm stunned. "Peeta…" I try.

He cuts me off. "No! I've got the right to say this. I'm the one who's been torn away from my family! You still have yours."

"We didn't want this to happen!"

"That makes two of us."

"I'm sorry. I just couldn't let Gale kill you." I don't know what else to say. I retreat, moving off to pull some more cattails.

I hear Peeta behind me several minutes later. "What'd you mean by that?" His voice is very quiet, but intense.

My eyes meet his. "I owed you."

He blinks. "For the bread? It was just a couple of loaves!"

"They saved my life." I pause. "You saved my life. And my mother's, and my sister's. I couldn't let Gale take yours."

"I'm not sure if I should be upset or glad at your sense of debt."

"Do you wish we'd killed you?" I hope he doesn't say yes. I don't know if I could bear to kill him.

"No, no. Never, Katniss." He shakes his head. "I just...I just miss my brothers."

"Do you want us to let you go?"

"Now?" He asks incredulously. "You were right, I have no way of finding my way back. And even if I could, my mom's sure to have missed me by now. I'd be lucky to only be whipped. I don't have a choice." He looks over at me and smiles wanly. "I guess you're stuck with me."

"You're not the worst person I could be stuck with."

"Thanks," he says dryly.

"I guess I should say thank you. For the bread."

"You're welcome. I wish you could've said it without having to kidnap me."

"Me too."

He shakes his head. "I'm sorry. This isn't how I wanted this to go." He walks off before I even have the chance to say anything.

I stare after him. I'm confused. What does he mean by that? I'm not sure I want to know.

Moving on, I find several bunches of watercress just starting to come out. That should taste good with the squirrel. We also find a whole field of dandelions. I smile as I start to gather them.

"You look happy," Peeta says. "I would never have thought that a simple weed would make you smile like that."

I frown, embarrassed to be caught with my guard down like that. "It's not a weed, it's food. And it saved my family."

"Oh. I didn't know. So...what can you eat on a dandelion?"

"Pretty much everything," I say. "The leaves make a good salad or boiled green, the flowers can be eaten pickled or deep fried, the roots can be made into tea, and as you saw yesterday they can be used as medicine. It's a really useful plant." I pick a flower bud and I toss it in my mouth.

"Huh," he says with a shake of his head. "I wanted to talk to you for such a long time. It - it feels weird to finally be able to do so." He picks one of the bright yellow flowers and studies it bemusedly. "It's funny. I almost worked up the courage one time but you got distracted by one of these flowers and I never got the chance." He twirls it between his fingers. "It's kind of ironic that a dandelion would let me talk to you again."

I freeze. It can't be. He was trying to talk to me the only day I ever wanted to talk to him? The day I realized that I could feed my family?

I look around, searching for a distraction. I don't find one, so in desperation I say, "Can you help me gather a whole bunch of the leaves? The young leaves taste the best. We should probably get back soon."

Peeta looks disappointed but nods anyway. I'm grateful he doesn't push.

When we've gathered as many dandelions as we can carry, we return to camp to find that they were unable to set a fire.

"Why didn't you use the book?" I ask. "That romance novel. It can't be that useful. We need the meat!"

"We are not sacrificing the book," my mother says. "Look, it's getting late. The squirrel wouldn't be finished by the time it's dark. Just give half of it to Buttercup today and the rest tomorrow and call it good."

I grumble a bit, but give in. At least this way we won't waste our stores on feeding that damn cat.

**oOo**

The next day is sunny and warmer and we're able to make decent time, despite Peeta and I not sleeping very well last night. He tried to avoid touching me underneath the covers, but when we woke up, he was curled around me. It felt protective.

Intimate.

And I wriggled out of his grasp as quickly as possible. Thankfully, he didn't comment and I'm glad Gale wasn't awake to see. But I can't stop thinking about that drowsy moment when I woke up in his arms and felt safe.

I range ahead, avoiding everyone under the pretense of scouting the terrain. Still, we have to stop when we reach a steep cliff. From that vantage point, we see a large river and decide to follow it. We end up losing a few hours trying to find a way down before eventually finding one.

By the time we reach the bottom, it's late afternoon and we're worn out. My mother suggests we call it a day and follow the river in the morning.

Because there's not a lot of cover overhead, we decide it's not safe for a fire. And after the debacle the day before, I choose not to hunt. I still want to gather what I can to supplement our food. I have no idea how long it's going to take to find a new home.

I take Rory with me this time under the guise of wanting to teach everyone what to look for. In reality, I'm avoiding both Gale and Peeta. It's almost not worth bringing the boy. There isn't a lot to find this early in the season other than watercress along the swiftly moving river.

We still gather as much as we can, but there isn't that much.

Still, the trip isn't entirely worthless. Rory spots an overhang that will make a good shelter for tonight.

We get the others and settle in.

**oOo**

The following morning, we're all puttering around camp eating breakfast and taking care of our bodily needs when the birds fall silent.

Gale and I sit up straight. We know what that means.

"Everyone! Under the overhang! Now!" Gale yells, grabbing what packs are outside of it, hurling them out of sight.

We all huddle under the overhang, pressing our bodies against the rock wall. Then we hear it. A hovercraft. A Capitol hovercraft. It sounds like it's heading towards Twelve from the northwest. We're lucky it didn't spot us out in the open.

We stay pressed up against the wall until the birds start singing again and we're sure it's gone.

"Looks like Mother's finally noticed I'm missing," Peeta says wryly. "Only took three days this time."

"We need to move," Gale says. "Now."

We grab our packs and follow the river east away from the direction the hovercraft came from.

We travel for maybe a mile when what we thought was a hawk circling overhead screams and dives straight for us.

I draw my bow and shoot it, but it still falls to the ground near us.

When it lands, we examine it and realize it's a mutt. It's the first time I've ever seen a mutt like this outside of the Games and my heart starts to pound. What is it doing here?

We don't take time to investigate. Tossing it into the river, we hurry on.

We trek maybe another mile when a loud roar pierces the air.

Gale swears and shrugs his pack off, nocking an arrow. I do the same and my mother and Peeta shove the kids behind them and brandish their walking sticks.

We're just in time.

A large unnaturally brown and red bear charges out of a cave near the edge of the cliff right at us.

I shoot an arrow into it but it does nothing.

Another arrow joins it.

The beast keeps coming.

There isn't a lot of distance between the charging mutt and me so this arrow has to count.

I draw my bow and take a deep breath. I see another arrow lodge in its side from Gale's bow and the beast lets out an awful roar.

It's what I've been waiting for. I loose my arrow right into the muttation's mouth, piercing the skull.

The roar changes to a gurgle and the animal falls to the ground, skidding to a halt less than ten feet from us.

"We need to get out of here!" Gale shouts.

"Where to?" I yell back. "In case you haven't noticed, we're stuck between the cliff and the river!"

"There!" Peeta points. "I think there's something stretched across the river!" I follow his finger to see what looks to be a large log stretched across the swiftly moving water.

It's less than a quarter of a mile away so we attempt to make a run for it. It's hard with the weight of the packs and we're all stumbling over the rough ground.

We get to the log and lean against it, struggling for breath.

"So now what?" Rory asks in between gasps.

Gale pushes it with his foot experimentally. "I'm not sure it can hold all of us."

"So who goes first?" Prim asks.

"I'll do it," Peeta says.

"No way, Mellark. You're carrying the heaviest pack and I still don't trust you."

While this is going on, I take time to examine our surroundings, looking for traps. Something bright white captures my attention.

It looks like a Peacekeeper's helmet. But it can't be. What would a Peacekeeper be doing out here? I take a few steps closer to get a better look. Behind me I can hear Rory start to cross the log and Prim encouraging him.

A flicker of gold catches my eye on the stark whiteness of what I can now confirm is a Peacekeeper's helmet. A tracker jacker!

It's a trap!

"Run!"

"Why?" Gale yells.

"Tracker jackers! It's a booby trap! We need to go!"

My mother helps Prim up, following Rory across.

Gale's brother reaches the other side and shouts, "I can hear more mutts!" He pulls out his slingshot and takes a defensive stance.

"Go!" Peeta yells. "Your brother needs you!"

Gale looks between Peeta and his brother, looking torn.

"Dammit, Hawthorne! You can either help him or watch me! Not both! Go! I'll be right behind you! Just go!"

Gale doesn't argue. Clambering onto the log with Peeta right on his heels, Gale tries to get his bow and arrow ready as he moves.

It's a mistake.

He hits a slippery patch of moss and loses his balance, teetering over the rushing water.

Just as fast, Peeta reaches out and catches the other man before he can topple into the river.

I don't notice what Gale's reaction is because I'm distracted by the painful sting of a tracker jacker on the back of my neck.

I can't let it stop me. I have to keep moving. If I don't, I'm dead.

I scramble onto the fallen tree and start across. I feel the tracker jacker venom beginning to take effect. The wood underneath my feet feels unsteady like I'm trying to stand up in a mine cart while it's moving.

I have to fight it.

I push forward, each step feeling like I'm about to tumble into the water below.

I hear shouts and snarls from the other side of the river but I can't let myself look up to determine what's going on. I have to concentrate on reaching the far bank.

One step. Then another. And another. I'm getting closer but the venom's effect is getting stronger.

I'm not sure if I'm going to make it.

The water beneath me turns to blood. In the froth, the skeletons of all those who have died in the flu bob obscenely. I stifle back a scream.

"Katniss!" I hear someone shout.

I look up from Posy's bloodless face to see an even worse nightmare! It's worse than the most hideous muttation in the Games with pulsating green skin oozing bright pink slime. Its face, if you can call it that, is dominated by a pair of bright yellow eyes with dark slits for pupils.

It's a monster!

A monster with Rory's voice. "Katniss! Give me your hand!" the thing cries.

I shake my head. It can't be Rory. It's got to be another trap. I take a step backward.

"She's gonna fall!" I hear my sister shout but I can't see her. In her place is another slime monster.

I want to fall. Darkness is closing in all around me. I want to escape from these muttations with my loved ones' voices.

A clawed hand reaches out and seizes my wrist. I scream.

"Don't let go, Rory!" the Prim-monster calls out frantically.

The claw tightens and I paw at the limb weakly, trying to get away. "She's slipping! I'm not sure I can hold her!"

"Hang on! I'll be there in a second!" the orange blob with Peeta's voice calls out. It rushes onto the log and captures the hand trying to fend off the Rory-monster.

"Let me go!"

"Never!" it says, pulling me into its flesh.

It's too much for me. I surrender to the darkness.

I hear voices calling my name. Peeta. Prim. Gale.

They're pleading with me to come back. To hold on.

I can't.

**oOo**

**AN:  
>Written:<strong> 1/30/15  
><strong>Revised:<strong> 2/1/15

The title of this chapter comes from the Jefferson Airplane song by the same name. It's a lovely song ostensibly about Alice in Wonderland but most people think that it references the effects of taking mind altering drugs. The music video does nothing to dispel this interpretation. And the effects it describes mesh up nicely with the effects of tracker jacker venom. Which let us tell you isn't fun to write. Not fun. Don't want to do it again.

Anyone have any guesses what the long thin clearings they kept running into are? If you guessed the roads and highways of today, give yourself a cookie. We're setting this about 250 to 300 years in the future. Using historical precedent of what happened with abandoned Roman roads and current evidence of urban reclamation, the cement and concrete will crack and thanks to winds and weather eventually get a thin layer of dirt over them which will lead to what's essentially wasteland meadows. For the most part, trees will not be able to take root (you'll get the odd sumac or maple but they'll be an exception.) This is especially true on interstates, which have to be able to handle heavier loads without cracking and breaking. If history has shown us anything, it's that while our cities can crumble, it can take a long time to do so. The fact that Roman roads are still being used to this day speaks to that. Look for the things we leave behind playing a role later in the series.

Now we come to the muttation portion of the author's note. Those were essentially proximity traps meant to stop runaways. The log was planted by the Capitol with the goal of luring people onto it. Either the tracker jackers or the mutt trap on the other side would take out the runners, if the bear hadn't already. You can infer that there are other traps all around the edges of the various districts. And in case you are wondering, at this point they're about forty miles from District Twelve. They've walked a bit farther than that, but not in a straight line.

Things Randomized in this chapter:

- The weather (all of it)  
>- Time of Day the Hovercraft flew over (and which day)<br>- Hunting success (if any)  
>- Ability to set a fire or not<br>- Approximately how many of anything they find

We hope you enjoyed this. Let us know what you think!


	6. Let Me Fly - Follow the Drinking Gourd

**Let Me Fly  
><em>by FanficAllergy &amp; RoseFyre<em>**

**oOo**

Chapter Six: Follow the Drinking Gourd

**oOo**

Last Time in Let Me Fly:

_I hear voices calling my name. Peeta. Prim. Gale._

_They're pleading with me to come back. To hold on. _

_I can't._

**oOo**

I slowly drag myself back to consciousness. My head feels muffled and heavy, like it's been wrapped in wool. There's something warm vibrating on my chest. It's comforting. Someone's holding my right hand, running calloused fingers over mine.

I try to say something, but all that comes out is a rusty groan. I try again and get the same result. Frustrated my attempt to vocalize failed, I struggle to open my eyes. It's not easy. Every little bit of light is like a knife to my skull, forcing me to shut them again. I begin anew, this time more slowly. Eventually I'm able to work my way through the pain and finally force them open.

Two yellow eyes stare back at me.

I let out a frightened yelp, jerking away from them.

The warm, vibrating thing turns into a hissing, clawy thing. Buttercup. Of course that damned cat would be the first thing I see.

Buttercup's departure gets the attention of the person holding my hand.

"Katniss?" Gale asks. "Are you awake?"

I'm not sure I can answer but I try anyway. "Mmmph…"

Gale takes my unintelligible moan for a yes. "I was worried about you, Catnip. You were screaming and crying for hours." He squeezes my hand tightly. "Your ma said we had to just let the poison run through your system."

I nod my head slowly. That explains why it's so hard to speak and why my eyes hurt so much.

He reaches up and runs his fingers through my hair. "I thought I was going to lose you, Catnip. Don't you ever scare me like that again. I've lost so many people. I couldn't bear to lose you too. I need you so much. You just don't know how much you mean to me." He strokes my hair tenderly, his voice rough with emotion.

I want to get away. I'm uncomfortable with the depth of Gale's feelings. I can sense that he's one step away from declaring he's in love with me and I'm not sure if I can deal with that right now, if ever.

Gale seems to realize how unnerved I am because he changes the subject. "Do you want to sit up?"

I nod my head again. Laying around like an invalid doesn't appeal to me. Even if that is exactly what I am at the moment.

He leans down and pulls me into a seated position. He hands me a canteen. I bring it to my lips, my hands shaking slightly. I gulp the water eagerly, some of it dribbling down my chin.

I don't care.

The cool liquid soothes my throat and I'm able to rasp out, "Is everyone okay?"

Gale nods. "You were the only casualty, although Peeta's shoulder is a little sore." I immediately notice the change in name.

I raise an eyebrow. "When did he become Peeta?"

"When he saved my life," he says with a sigh. He looks at me intently. "And yours."

"Oh." I'm glad that they're not fighting anymore. A small smile crosses my lips. "So when are you guys gonna start braiding each other's hair?"

He smiles warmly at me, stroking my hair again. "I don't think you have to worry about that, Katniss. You've got much better hair than he does."

I not sure I like this new touchy-feely Gale. His touch is distracting and makes me feel things in my stomach. I don't like it. I decide to change the subject. "So... what was on the other side of the river?"

Gale gives me a look, but answers, "A pack of wolf-like mutts. Rory and I took care of them."

I nod. "Sorry I couldn't help."

He shrugs. "Don't worry about it. That's what friends are for."

I lean back against the tree, taking in my surroundings. I can see Buttercup tied to a tree nearby and Rory turning a large bird on a spit. Prim, Peeta, and my mother are nowhere to be seen. I ask Gale, "Where is everyone?"

"Gathering. Your mom saw a bunch of wild leeks and other things on our way here and wanted to snag them."

I realize suddenly I can't hear the river. "Here? Where's here?" I look around more in growing panic. "Where are we?"

"About a half mile north of the river. We had to get away from the river but there was no way we could carry you and everything else very far." He lets out a short laugh. "It was a bit of a clusterfuck for part of it. Trying to figure out how to get you and our stuff away from the Capitol's traps. It'd be funny if it weren't happening to us."

"Wait - what - traps?"

"Yeah, your ma's the one who figured it out. Those mutts were a bit too regular." He pauses. "And we also found some other proof."

"Other proof?"

"Looks like we're not the first ones to try to run away from Twelve," he says solemnly. "There's some bones and packs a few feet up the hill from the log." He takes a breath, gathering his thoughts. "It looks like they got ambushed by the wolf mutts or some other animal. I think it might've been Liddy Fairburn and her family. The timing's right and the clothes look familiar."

"Why do you think it's them?" I vaguely recognize the name. Liddy Fairburn wasn't somebody I interacted with, but I kind of remember people talking about her disappearance.

"It makes sense. They went missing right before the 71st Games. Her sister, Neesa, was always talking revolution. Trying to organize the miners. Trying to make the Capitol lower their quotas." His voice is admiring, then he shakes his head. "She pissed off a lot of the higher ups but the workers loved her. Then suddenly she was gone. Word was she and the whole family were disappeared. Taken by the Capitol for Neesa's agitating. Based on what we found, I guess they disappeared another way."

"Did you know them?" I ask softly.

"Kinda? Liddy was the same age as me even though we didn't talk much. I suppose you could say we grew up together but we weren't close. Liddy's ma was on the same crew as my dad. Her ma made it out. My dad didn't. After that, we didn't bother trying to keep in touch."

I nod my head and change the subject. "Did they have anything useful on them?" I know it's a bit morbid to ask if they searched the bodies, but the Fairburns are dead and we're not. No matter how gruesome it might be, we should take anything that could help us survive out here in the wild.

Gale understands. "There's a few things. Peeta's got a lunch pail now. There's also a bit of clothing and a bar of soap. But the best thing we found was a saw and a bow wrapped in oilcloth in Mr. Fairburn's pack. I don't know why he didn't have the bow out. I guess he didn't think he'd need it or something."

I perk up at the mention of the bow. "What about the arrows?"

"I checked, but they were a bust. All broken and chipped. Totally useless."

It would've been nice to have more arrows or even arrowheads, but this is an extremely lucky find.

"How long was I out?" I ask next.

"Not quite a day. Rory's making breakfast."

A day? I can't believe I was out for so long. "What did you do for watches?"

"It took a bit of doing. Your mom was too focused on you, so Prim and Rory took the first watch. Peeta took the second. I took the third."

I raise my eyebrows at the information. "You really trust him now, don't you?"

Gale has the decency to look embarrassed. "Yeah. He's proved himself. You were right about him."

We don't get a chance to talk anymore because my mother, Prim, and Peeta come back with a sack full of wild onions, wild leeks, wintergreen, pine tips, solomon's seal, and partridge berry.

My mother, seeing I'm sitting up, comes over to check on me. "How many fingers am I holding up?" She holds two digits in front of my face.

"Two! Knock it off." I feebly try to push my mother's hand down. "I'm fine. See?" I struggle to get up. I fail.

"You're not fine," my mother counters. "In fact, I think we need to stay here for the rest of the day while you heal up. We can continue north tomorrow."

I shake my head. "We can't stay here. What about that hovercraft?"

"We haven't heard it since yesterday," Gale says.

"But that means they'll probably be looking this way pretty soon." I nod at the fire. "We can't have that burning. They'll be looking for smoke."

"I only set it this morning," Peeta says. "And only because Gale got the chicken and we don't want that much meat going to waste. We made Rory give the squirrel he got yesterday to Buttercup just to be on the safe side."

"It was my first kill too! And it went to the stupid cat!" I'm a little surprised Rory managed to kill something with that silly slingshot he's been playing with since we left Twelve, but good for him.

Unsurprisingly, my sister objects, "Hey! My cat's not stupid!"

"Yeah he is! Look at him! He's walking around on a leash like a dog!"

"That just means he's smart and he's not gonna run away!"

"He should run away! He's eating all of our food!"

"No he's not!"

"He ate my squirrel! It was my first kill! I should have been the one to eat it!" Rory looks like he's about to start crying.

"Can you guys tone it down a little?" my mother interrupts them. "I'm sure Katniss doesn't appreciate all of this loud bickering. She needs real sleep, not just hallucination sleep, to recover from the effects of the tracker jacker venom."

The two pre-teens glare at each other before pointedly ignoring the other.

My mother sits down next to me, pulling out the library book to read aloud. I fall asleep to the soft tones of her reading.

**oOo**

I'm awakened several hours later when a heavy weight settles over my body and a large hand covers my mouth. I struggle, snapping my eyes open. It's Peeta. He makes a shushing motion and points up.

I stop trying to get away and follow his finger.

The sound hits me. The roar of a hovercraft.

We wait in silence, hoping it will go away soon. It doesn't. Peeta whispers in my ear, "It must be searching for me."

"Or all of us. Is the fire out?" I hiss back.

"Hours ago."

I nod my head. "How long?" I point up.

"Just a few minutes. Your mom's covering Prim and Gale's covering Rory. We're all back underneath the trees so hopefully they won't see anything."

We listen in silence and my eyes keep darting upwards, looking for any sign of the aircraft overhead. I see the bright light of a searchlight filter down through the canopy overhead and I hold my breath.

The light moves on and eventually the hovercraft does as well. We stay motionless on the ground until the birds start chirping again. Even then, when we do move, it's slowly, making sure we stay hidden under the protective cover of the trees.

"I think it's time to get out of here," I whisper.

My mother nods her head. "Agreed. Tomorrow at first light."

Gale starts redistributing the packs a bit to even out the weight. He reaches into his pack and hands Peeta a knife. It's a visible gesture of trust.

My mother comes over with a cold chicken leg. "Here. We saved this for you."

"It's too much," I say.

"You need it. You haven't eaten in over twenty-four hours." She also gives me some of the partridge berries and a piece of hardtack. The berries and the hardtack are tasteless, but the flavor of the chicken makes up for it.

After I eat, my mother helps me change out of my soiled clothing. "I'll wash these in a nearby creek," she says, taking the small cake of soap from the Fairburns with her.

I'm embarrassed by my nudity, but luckily no one is looking right at me. Rory, Peeta and Gale are deliberately keeping their backs to me to give me some level of privacy.

Prim brings me new clothing and then heads off to change clothes herself. Apparently it's laundry day. Gale gives Peeta some of his spare clothing, which Peeta takes gratefully, before he and Rory change into fresh garments themselves. Prim carries all of our dirty clothing to my mother.

When they come back, arms full of wet laundry, they hang the clothes over low lying branches to dry. I can't stop myself from smiling when I notice there's a whole army of socks placed on twigs sticking out of the ground. My mother makes us change socks every night and we've been going through them. It'll be nice to have clean ones again.

I speak up. "I'm feeling a bit better. Do you want me to take the first watch?"

"No," my mother says firmly. "You're still recovering."

I make a face but don't argue. I could use more sleep.

**oOo**

The next morning, I wake up to an already cloudy day and Peeta curled up against me. I wriggle out from under the covers, careful not to wake him. I stand up, stretching my muscles. It feels good to finally move around again.

I see Gale sitting on a fallen log on the other side of the camp. He must have had the last watch. He smiles at me and motions for me to come over and sit next to him.

"Did you manage to note which direction the sun came up from?" I lower myself onto the log.

He points to a mark on the ground. "Yes."

"Good."

There's not a whole lot more to say because the others are stirring.

We pack up and set out, heading northeast away from the river. I take point. It's a little more difficult to navigate with such heavily overcast skies. Every so often, I mark a tree with our direction as an extra precaution. We don't want to wander around in circles.

About an hour or so after we set off, Gale calls us to a halt. "I think I just heard thunder."

I grimace. "Are you sure?"

He doesn't need to answer because there's another rumble. We haven't seen lightning yet, but it's not far behind. We need to find shelter and get out from underneath these trees. Trees attract lightning and you don't want to be under one if it's struck.

"Everybody fan out and look out for a pile of rocks or an overhang or something," I say. "Keep within shouting distance and hurry."

Gale and I each take the flank, branching out to find someplace, anyplace, to wait out the coming storm.

Surprisingly, it's Prim who finds a small cave. It's not even big enough for me to stand up in and it's clearly been inhabited at some point, probably by a hibernating bear. But it'll keep us dry and hopefully out of danger.

The rest of the group congregates around us and I yell, "Get some wood!"

We barely manage to gather a few dry sticks before a huge gust of wind roars through the forest. The trees creak and shake dangerously over our heads.

"Get to shelter!" Gale yells and we run for it.

Rory's the last to join us when the skies open up, drenching the pre-teen.

We pile what little wood we've found into the center of the cave.

"That won't even last an hour," Peeta says, surveying the pile critically.

"How do you know?" I ask.

Peeta smiles. "I got really familiar with fires, working in the bakery. It was my job to set the fire every morning with my father." He looks sad. "It's one of the things I miss most. That quiet bit of ritual before the rush of the day."

"Oh," I say lamely.

My mother sits down, her back against the wall. "I suggest we save the wood until we really need it."

He nods, letting the subject drop.

We huddle in the cave and my mother digs the romance novel out of her pack and starts to read it aloud to the group. Rory rummages through his pack and emerges triumphantly with a deck of cards.

I roll my eyes.

Prim takes Buttercup out of his bag. The cat's in a mood, apparently. He claws my sister's hand and she yelps in pain, dropping the stupid beast.

Buttercup hisses at us and makes a break for the cave entrance.

"Grab him!" Prim yells, cradling her injured hand.

I attempt to snag the infernal cat but he darts around me.

He reaches the opening of the cave and skids to a halt at the wet beyond. It's only a short pause, but it's enough to give us an opening.

Peeta takes it.

Moving faster than I expect him to be able to, he seizes Buttercup by the scruff of the neck and then gently picks him up. "You don't want to go out there, little boy," he murmurs. "It's wet and cold and there'll be nothing to eat. Why you go back to your mistress and she'll feed you some nice, yummy fish. Doesn't that sound better?"

The cat, for some weird reason only felines can know, seems to understand what Peeta is saying. He calms down and buries his face in the crook of Peeta's elbow.

A loud boom of thunder tears through the woods causing all of us to jump.

"I bet you're just scared of thunderstorms aren't you?" Peeta guesses, talking to the animal in his arms. "You just wanted to go home and hide under the bed until it was over. I can understand that. I don't like thunderstorms either."

Buttercup doesn't respond. He's cat. But he does try to burrow deeper into Peeta's arms.

With the excitement of Buttercup's escape attempt over, we all settle in for the duration. My mother resumes reading the book aloud. Peeta is on cat duty. Prim, seeing nothing else to do, joins Rory playing cards. They bicker for a bit before settling on a game. Gale shakes his head at his little brother and pulls out a whetstone to start sharpening all of our knives.

I'm not sure what I should do. Part of me wants to sleep, but the responsible part of me forces me to check on the rest of our weapons. I pull out Gale's and my bows along with the one we found on the Fairburns. It's in surprisingly good shape, considering that it's been out in the elements for three years. All it needs is a new coat of oil and it'll be ready for use.

We should really think about teaching someone else how to shoot, we now have four bows. Maybe when we're settled. I'm not sure if there's going to be time when we're travelling.

I also check on our arrows. We've used a lot over the last few days and we don't want to run out. We're still in good shape even with the ones we lost to the mutts. I'll need to make more eventually, but we should have enough so long as we retrieve the ones we shoot.

Peeta looks up from where he's playing with Buttercup. "You know, this rain is actually a good thing."

"Why do you say that?" Rory asks.

"Well, it will wash away any sign of our tracks and help throw off any pursuers."

"And I bet the hovercraft is having trouble in this weather too," Prim says.

"Maybe. It can't hurt."

Outside, lightning flashes and even though it's put a halt to our travels, I'm grateful for the storm.

**oOo**

The thunderstorm passes a little before sunset, too late to try to move on or accomplish anything else for the day. The forced rest over the last few days, while frustrating, was also much needed.

We sleep well that night and, for the first time since we left District Twelve, all of us wake up refreshed.

The rain's stopped and the sun's out, warming us all. It's still cold, but the sun feels nice.

Sometime around mid morning, we hit a wide long clearing heading north and east. A herd of deer startles and scatters on the far side of the clearing as we enter it. I swear internally. If I'd been on my own, I would've gotten one.

It looks like they were licking the ground there. "Do you think there's salt there?" my mother asks.

"Maybe," I answer. "We don't need that much, we have some already."

My mother shakes her head. "Not enough. Salt's important. We've been exerting ourselves a lot and our blood needs salt. And while we brought some with us, we're going to need a lot more for preserving and I think we have space in our packs now if we find some."

We move over to investigate, but there's no sign of any. With no salt and no deer, we decide to follow the clearing, making good time.

We're moving too fast and too loudly for me to hunt effectively, but I keep my bow out anyway.

We call a halt about three hours before sunset. "Do you think we can set a fire tonight?" my mother asks.

Gale considers it. "We haven't heard the hovercraft in two days, we're probably far enough away from Twelve. I think we can chance it. Just keep it small and under the trees."

"I'll get firewood," Peeta volunteers.

"We'll work on the shelter," my mother says, gesturing to herself, Prim, and Rory.

Gale grabs his bow and looks at me expectantly. "Let's go."

We walk far enough away that the noise of the rest of the group shouldn't scare away any game.

We startle a rabbit and I'm able to take it down. There's a few other animals, but they're either out of range or in a bad position for a shot.

Entering a mossy clearing, we see a bunch of rabbits nibbling on the plant life there. I'm able to get one, but Gale's arrow goes wide and the rest startle, darting off into the brush.

"Damn!" Gale swears loudly.

I laugh. "Well, I think we're done for the evening. You probably scared all the rest of the game away."

Gale runs his fingers through his hair. "I know. It's just frustrating when you don't get anything. I kind of feel...useless."

"It's not a competition. Each of us is pulling our own weight. And you got the chicken while I was recovering."

"I guess." He sighs. "Sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision."

"Leaving Twelve?"

"No, not that." He takes a deep breath before continuing. "Katniss, I promised myself I'd wait until you survived your last Reaping before doing this, but we're free of that now."

"Doing what? Gale...what are you talking about?" I eye him warily.

"Have you ever thought about the future, you know, about...after? About you and me?"

The question throws me and I'm not sure I know what he's talking about. I do my best to answer. "Prim would still be eligible for the Games. I would have to make sure she never had to take out tesserae."

"But after that," he presses. "What about your future?"

"What about it?"

He runs his fingers through his hair again. "Have you ever thought about, I don't know, what it'd be like to kiss someone?"

I shrug. "Not really. I mean, maybe? It's not exactly been at the top of my list of things to do."

He lets out a short bark of laughter. "It's been at the top of mine."

"What?" No. I'm not ready for this. He can't be saying what I think he's saying.

But he is. "Katniss, you have to know how I feel about you."

"What?! Why are you telling me this? Now, of all times? Why now?"

"I just realized that, with you lying there, I might lose you. And then I realized I might never get the chance to tell you how I feel. I might never get the chance to find out if you feel the same."

"I'm confused. We're friends. Of course we feel the same." I'm refusing to acknowledge what I really think he means.

He steps closer and reaches up to touch my face. "Katniss, I've cared about you for so long. So very, very long. I just couldn't forgive myself if I didn't do this at least once."

"Do what?"

He runs his thumb over my lips. "Can I kiss you?"

My knee-jerk reaction is to say no. But he's regarding me so earnestly, so hopefully I don't. Instead, I blink up at him.

His fingertips caress my cheek while he waits for my decision. His touch feels good. Right, even. Will his lips be the same?

There's only one way to find out.

I nod my head.

He smiles at me reverently and leans down to gently cover my lips with his own. The kiss is warm and dry and our lips are chapped. But it's nice.

Really nice.

Gale must think so too because after it ends he asks, "Can I do that again?"

I nod my head a second time.

This kiss is less tentative. More forceful. More sure. Gale ghosts his tongue over my lips and I feel them tingle.

My arms slip around his waist almost without any direction.

He takes that as a signal to deepen the kiss, pulling me closer.

I feel a little flicker of desire deep in my belly.

It frightens me.

I take an involuntary step back, stumbling over something. I tear my lips away and look down at my feet. "What was that?"

Gale blinks. "What was what?"

"I just stepped on something." I'm grateful for the distraction and kneel down to get a closer look. I can see a dull cream color where my foot scraped away some of the moss. "What's that?" I remove a little more moss and recoil in horror at what I find.

It's a skull.

A human skull.

I look around the clearing, seeing it with new eyes. The swells and bumps of moss take on a more sinister meaning. "It's people," I breathe. "The whole clearing is people."

"What happened here?" Gale asks, looking around, his eye wide.

I shake my head. "I don't know. But I think we should leave."

"Yeah, good idea."

And we do. All thoughts of the kiss we shared are pushed from my head by our gruesome discovery.

**oOo**

**AN:  
>Written:<strong> 2/1/15  
><strong>Revised:<strong> 2/5/15

The title of this chapter comes from the American Folk Song of the same name. It refers to following the north star along the Underground Railroad. It fit, since that is what Katniss and company are doing to escape to freedom.

We think it might be time to talk about pairings and what to expect in the future. On Ao3, you can see all of the planned pairings, but because this site is behind the times we can only tag one pairing. Let's just say that this is a slow build with the intent for Katniss to have both her typical YA boyfriend and typical YA girlfriend. The rating is M for a reason. There will be future sexy times, but not in this arc. We will also be less explicit on this site. Ao3 will be getting the unedited version.

For those people who need it spelled out, that means we're going to eventually be having Katniss/Peeta, Katniss/Gale, and Katniss/Peeta/Gale. If this makes you uncomfortable, this may not be the fic for you. The romance is central to the story, particularly in the second arc, but it isn't the whole story, and we will indicate which chapters will contain smut when we get to them. As a note, there will be no smut in this particular arc. The M rating is because the whole series is going to be rated M. This particular arc is less about the romance and more about escaping Twelve.

Randomized:

- The weather other than the super rainy day which was plot necessary  
>- How far they traveled each day<br>- Hunting success and what they caught  
>- Ability to set fires<br>- Did they find salt (almost but not quite)  
>- Who found the shelter on the rainy day<br>- Everything with the Fairburns - yes, the hapless victims that Gale knew were entirely randomized. It took fifteen rolls to get there. If you want more details, including percentages and what we were rolling for, FanficAllergy will have an explanation up on her tumblr, which is linked on her profile.

So what do you think of all of this? Let us know!

Until next time!


	7. Let Me Fly - Tooth, Fang, and Claw

**Let Me Fly  
><em>by FanficAllergy &amp; RoseFyre<em>**

**oOo**

Chapter Seven: Tooth, Fang, and Claw

**oOo**

Last Time in Let Me Fly:

_It's a skull. _

_A human skull. _

_I look around the clearing, seeing it with new eyes. The swells and bumps of moss take on a more sinister meaning. "It's people," I breathe. "The whole clearing is people."_

_"What happened here?" Gale asks, looking around, his eye wide._

_I shake my head. "I don't know. But I think we should leave."_

_"Yeah, good idea."_

_And we do. All thoughts of the kiss we shared are pushed from my head by our gruesome discovery._

**oOo**

Gale and I don't talk much on our way back to camp. We're both still shaken by the discovery of the field of bones.

When we get back to camp, we tell everyone what we found.

"Ewwww, gross!" Prim says, wrinkling her nose.

I agree with her. Dead animals are one thing. Dead humans are another.

"Who do you do think they were?" Gale muses aloud.

I shrug. "The bones looked pretty old. I'm more concerned about why there were so many of them. I mean, all those people in one place. What could do something like that?"

"They could be from the Cataclysm or even the Dark Days for that matter," my mother offers. "There's really no way of us knowing."

"And do we really want to find out?" Peeta asks. "Does it really matter?"

We share a look. Implied is the fact that there isn't anything we can do about avoiding something that deadly.

"It's still really creepy." Prim cuddles Buttercup closer to her.

"Don't worry about it," Rory tells her. "The dead can't hurt you. Worry about the living."

"And on that morbid note, I think we should get started on supper," Peeta says, bending down to start the fire.

**oOo**

The temperature falls overnight and Peeta and I have to huddle together under our blanket during watch. It's the coldest it's been since we started out and I'm actually grateful my mother suggested we do watches in pairs. I'd have likely frozen otherwise.

"It doesn't feel like spring," Peeta observes, wrapping his arms around me tighter. He's seated with his back against a tree with me nestled in between his legs, leaning back against his chest. It's comforting even though I tell myself I don't like it.

"We're in the mountains," I say. "The weather's unpredictable up here."

He chuckles and I can feel it vibrate through my back. "I know. I grew up in Twelve too."

I lean my head back against his shoulder. "What was it like growing up in town?"

He tilts his head to look at me. "Boring. It's not like baking bread is all that exciting. Not like hunting or going out into the woods."

"I never really thought of it as exciting," I tell him. "It was necessary for my family's survival. I would have loved to have grown up in town, never having to worry about where my next meal came from, if it was going to come at all. Never having to worry about if I was going to get enough to keep away starvation for one more day."

"I suppose that's true. I didn't have to worry about that. I never went hungry, but you get sick of stale bread after a while." I feel him shrug.

I never really thought about it before. My family always had a variety of food to eat, even if we didn't always have enough. "I always thought you ate cookies and cakes. Like those ones in the window."

"Can I tell you a secret?"

I nod.

"The ones in the window were just for show. They were just cardboard with frosting on them. The real cookies were for customers. All we ever got was what wouldn't sell, mostly stale bread and burnt biscuits."

I glance up at the overcast sky and change the subject, "I bet we get snow before the day's out."

"You're probably right." Peeta gets up and starts packing the lunch pails. I miss his warmth and pull the blanket tighter around me. "We should get started as soon as it's light."

We head out soon after. The walk is easy and we're heading northeast along the clearing. The only annoyance is that we have to stop frequently to deal with my mother's monthly visitor.

She pulled me aside this morning to tell me so that I could make the proper accommodations. I'm embarrassed; I hope the boys don't find out.

In order to keep them from discovering the real reason for our frequent stops, I make us gather everything we find. We forage a lot this way and on one of our stops I snag a squirrel.

Gale keeps glancing over at me hopefully, but I avoid him. I don't regret kissing him, but I'm just not sure if I'm able to give him everything he wants, and I certainly am not ready to have that conversation. The kiss was nice and I'd probably be willing to kiss him again. Just later. And I don't want him to get the wrong idea. I'm not ready for a relationship yet, even if I wouldn't mind making out with Gale again.

We reach a larger clearing with several ruined buildings. There are the remains of large vehicles all around the clearing although most of what's left is broken glass and rust. We'd seen several places with broken glass along the way, and now seeing these larger vehicles we can guess that the glass was from smaller ones that have long since rusted away. I'm guessing they're from whatever civilization was in this area before the Cataclysm.

The long clearing that we've been following veers sharply to the southeast. Gale and I share a look. We don't want to go that way. It's time to find a new path. We head north, looking for a stream, river, or even one of those odd clearings that's heading in a northern direction. It takes us a little bit but in the late afternoon, we finally do.

By then, it's time to stop for the day. Each of us takes on a different task. Peeta gathers cattails while Rory and my mother set up a camp and Gale and I go our separate ways to hunt.

I don't have very much luck and I spend most of my time following the stream we found listlessly, thinking back to my kiss with Gale. It was nice. Really nice. And it seriously confused me. I've never really considered dating somebody, it's never even entered my mind. A relationship is a luxury. A luxury I couldn't afford. I had my family to feed, and the Games were an ever-present worry hanging over my head.

Now, despite the worry of having to find a place to live, I feel like a huge burden has been lifted off of me. I don't have to deal with life in Twelve, or the Games. I don't have to go to school. There's no more worry of dying in the mines like my father did. It's freeing. Like a huge weight I never knew I was carrying has suddenly disappeared and things I've never had time or inclination to think about are now very real possibilities.

I reach up and I touch my lips, remembering Gale's kiss. Would it be just as nice if he kissed me again? Unbidden, a thought flits through my head: I wonder how Peeta kisses. Gale's stubble was surprisingly soft; will Peeta's be the same? Will his lips be chapped like Gale's? What does he taste like?

What in the hell am I thinking? This isn't like me!

I shake my head to try to refocus on hunting, but I can't keep the traitorous thoughts out of my mind. It's distracting and dangerous.

I don't realize how dangerous until a few moments later.

Off to my left, I hear a large animal approaching through the undergrowth. I draw my bow and point it in the direction of the noise, my heart racing. It doesn't sound like a deer or any of the other game I'm used to hunting.

A few seconds later a full-sized boar bursts into the clearing sniffing the ground intently.

Reflexively, I fire my arrow at the beast.

It isn't a perfect shot. The arrow sticks in the animal's ribs, but not deeply. I'm in trouble.

The pig squeals in pain and anger, swiveling its head, searching for what injured it.

It finds me.

Lowering its snout, the boar charges.

I take a step back, firing another arrow. This time it skewers the eye, slamming into the skull.

It's a good hit.

The animal skids to a halt and falls onto its side, dead.

My heart is racing. I'm lucky to be alive! I can't afford to be distracted by Peeta or Gale. I could have died!

I stare at the pig and another thought hits me. How am I going to get this much meat back to camp? What are we going to do with it all? There is no way I'm letting this much pork go to waste. We're going to have to figure out some way to preserve and take it with us. But first, I've got to get it back to camp.

I field dress the pig, draining its blood and removing the undesirable organs like the stomach and intestines. When that's done, I grab the boar by its legs and take a few experimental tugs. It doesn't move. It's still too heavy for me to get back to camp.

I sit down next to my kill to think.

I don't dare leave the pig here unattended while I go back to camp to get help. The scavengers would be sure to find it. I need to get Gale and the others to come to me. But how? What can I do to get someone's attention?

The black and white wing of a mockingjay catches my attention. The birds. I can use the birds.

I start to sing the Valley Song. It seems appropriate, considering we're in a mountain valley. And it's one of the simplest songs that I know. My father used to get the mockingjays around Twelve to echo it back to him. I hope the ones out here will do the same. The only way to find out is to try. I sing the first verse and wait. A few seconds later the birds pick it up. I smile. This might work.

I repeat the song every five minutes to keep the birds singing.

It takes almost a half hour, but I can hear Peeta and Rory crashing through the woods calling my name. I sigh. I'm going to have to teach them how to walk silently in the woods soon.

Once they're close enough, I shout back, "Here! I'm over here!"

The break through the underbrush and run towards me. "Katniss! What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Peeta asks, taking in the blood on my clothes.

I shake my head. "It's not mine." I motion to the boar. "It's this ugly thing's."

"Whoa," Rory breathes. "That's a lot of meat!"

Peeta suddenly seems to notice the pig and his eyes widen.

"Rory, run back to camp and get some rope," I tell the pre-teen. "And a hatchet."

He nods and sprints away.

"How can I help?" Peeta asks, bending down next to me.

"Can you cut down one of those saplings?" I ask, pointing to a stand of birch trees.

He pulls out his knife and looks at it. It's a small knife, not really suited for much other than cutting vegetables or fruit. He shakes his head. "I'd rather wait for the hatchet. I'm not sure this would work." He looks at me, his eyes lingering on the blood on my clothes. "Why don't you go get cleaned up? I'll watch the pig."

It's a good idea and I take it.

Rory comes back a bit later with the rope and the hatchet. I'm starting to get a little worried because it's getting closer to night and the crows have already found the pig's entrails. I'm worried about other scavengers.

We tie the pig to the sapling Peeta fells and the two boys carry it back to camp.

When we get there, Gale's already returned with several smaller pieces of game including a duck. It's the best single day haul we've had in over a year.

"What are we going to do with all this meat?" my mother asks.

I shrug. "Eat it?"

"How? It's not going to stay good for that long!"

"I don't-"

The howl of a wild dog interrupts me. A few heartbeats later a second howl joins it.

Gale leaps to his feet, bow in hand. "Fuck! This is bad!"

I whirl, scanning for the oncoming attack.

"Get ready!" I yell as another howl pierces the air.

We don't have long to wait.

Two large dogs burst into the campsite, beelining toward the pig. They must have followed us back from the stream.

Gale and I fire our arrows simultaneously.

They hit.

Unfortunately, we're aiming at the same dog. I groan internally. We need to work on our coordination. Later, once the danger passes.

The doubly killed dog falls.

The other dog skids to a halt at its packmate's demise. It's a lucky break, giving us time to reload.

The other dog is dead a second later.

We listen for the sound of any additional attackers, but there aren't any. The skirmish is over and thankfully no one is hurt.

Gale retrieves our arrows while I cover him. Peeta and Rory drag the dogs as far away from camp as they can. Hoping that any additional scavengers will go after the dogs rather than us.

I sit down on the ground, glaring at the pig. It's all the boar's fault. If it hadn't startled me, the attack, the continuing danger from predators and conundrum of what to do with the meat would have never happened. Part of me is regretting killing it, but a louder, more reasonable part reminds me that we need the meat. Stupid pig.

"So...I guess we can dry it over some smoke?" my mother suggests, as if the attack didn't happen.

I stare at her blankly before breaking into peals of uncontrolled laughter.

**oOo**

My prediction that morning that we're going to get snow comes true. Sometime after sundown, large fluffy flakes start falling, sticking to the ground and trees. I'm grateful we stopped earlier and took the time to make a shelter and set several fires for smoking the meat. The snow's not falling fast enough for it to endanger the multiple fires we have going but it is still problematic in another way.

"Snow?!" Prim exclaims. "This late in the year?"

"It can happen. You know that," I tell her.

"But it's so cold!" She burrows into her coat until only her eyes are visible under the wool cap she's wearing.

"That's not the biggest problem," Gale says, wrapping his scarf around his neck.

"So what is?" Prim asks, her voice muffled by her clothing.

"Duh. We're going to leave tracks," Rory tells her.

Gale shoots his brother a look. "Tracks are pretty much the least of our concern. We're sending up a giant smoke signal right now. I'm actually pretty grateful that it's snowing since it's hard to see anything in snow. The cold's a problem. But with these fires and our shelter we can deal with it. The worst part is that it's covering all of our food."

"That's not really a problem," Rory counters, motioning to all of the thin slices of pork drying over the fires.

"We can't live on just meat alone," my mother says. "We'll get sick."

"And predators are going to get desperate," Gale adds. "We're pretty vulnerable out here and we've got this pig to guard. We're going to have to be extra careful while it's drying."

"How long is that going to take?" Peeta asks.

"At least a full day to get the meat completely dried," my mother tells him. "It'd be better if we had two and I'd really like more salt to preserve the meat with. We're all out."

"We can look for some," I tell her. "Tomorrow. We're not going to be doing all that much anyway."

"Do we have enough wood?" Rory asks, looking at the large piles placed next to the fires.

"I cut down a maple tree," Gale says flatly. "I think we have enough."

"If you're really looking for something to do," my mother says crisply, "you can start stripping bark from the wood. We can eat the inner layer and it should be pretty sweet this time of year and it's better than worrying about something we have no control over."

Rory makes a face. "Fine."

Prim emerges from her cocoon long enough to stick her tongue out at Rory.

"I saw that, Primrose. You can help Rory as well."

I struggle to hide my smile. It's the most normal life has been for a very long time.

Peeta meets my eyes and nods slightly. I guess he feels the same way too.

**oOo**

The night passes uneventfully and we sleep deeply, despite the cold, our bellies full for the first time since we left Twelve. I curl up against Peeta, reveling in his warmth. It's a little surprising how quickly I've gotten used to sharing blankets with him. I wonder if I'd be as comfortable with him if we hadn't run away. Probably not. I probably would have gone for years without speaking to him. But he makes a good blanket, I'll give him that.

Morning comes, signaling the end of the snowstorm. Peeta and I are on the last watch again. It seems to be our assigned watch even when we're not traveling. I'm glad we're not going anywhere today because there's probably five or six inches of snow on the ground. Foraging isn't going be easy with this much snow. It's warmer than yesterday so I'm hoping the snow won't stick around for long.

I heat some water for tea and Peeta starts making breakfast. There's no point in waking the others yet.

"So what do you want to do today?" he asks, frying up a few boiled cattails and wild onion in a pan with some pig fat and liver.

"I told my mom we'd look for salt." I add some wintergreen to the hot water and watch it steep.

Peeta looks up from his work. "How are you going to do that?"

"Look for deer," I reply absently.

"What?"

"Deer like salt. Really like it. They like to lick it and they'll gather where the ground is salty. A lot of the time you'll find whole chunks of rock salt if you dig around a little," I explain. "Back in Twelve, I used to take out a few chunks to bait deer with in the fall."

"Huh. Weird. You think deer will be out in this weather?"

I shrug. "They've got to eat. They'll be out." My eyes are trained on the surrounding forest. After the attack yesterday, I'm nervous about more predators finding our camp.

The smell of cooking rouses Rory and he comes over, his bowl at the ready. He's soon joined by the others.

"Why don't we settle down here?" Rory asks through a mouthful of food.

"Yeah!" Prim agrees. "There's all sorts of stuff to gather and animals to hunt. It seems like the perfect place."

Gale shakes his head. "We're too close to Twelve still."

"We've been walking forever!" Rory protests. "We still can't be that close to Twelve!"

I calculate it out in my head. Gale's right. We're maybe about forty miles from Twelve as the crow flies. We haven't been traveling in a straight line and we've had to navigate around a lot of objects so it just seems like we've gone further.

"It doesn't matter," my mother says. "This place isn't safe. There's no coal seam fires nearby to hide the smoke from ours. We'd be caught eventually."

"Don't worry about it, Rory," Gale tries to soothe. "Once we get a bit further north, we can see about building a house."

"Are you insane, Hawthorne?" Peeta exclaims, slipping back into calling him by his last name. "Look around you! How many new houses with smoking chimneys do you see?" he asks rhetorically. "None! It won't matter if our house is right on top of a burning coal seam, it'll still stick out like a sore thumb to any passing hovercraft."

Gale glares at the other man, all of the earlier camaraderie gone. "So what's your suggestion, Mellark?"

Peeta falters. "I don't know. Just not a house."

"Why can't we live in one of the ruins?" Prim asks.

Peeta shakes his head. "It's still too obvious. Ruined houses burn down, they don't have controlled fires going day and night."

"We could live in a cave," my mother suggests, looking up from her food.

Both Peeta and Gale gape at her. She smiles at them and returns to her breakfast.

It's not a bad suggestion and it's the obvious one. We've just been so hung up on building a house that we've not thought of anything else. We really should have.

Rory opens his mouth to ask another question when we're distracted by the sound of something large lumbering towards our camp.

Grabbing our weapons, we leap to our feet, all discussion of where to live forgotten.

I can make out the approach of something big and black. I narrow my eyes. It can't be...

"I think it's a bear," Gale mutters half to me and half to himself.

He's right. I really wish he wasn't. The animal is sniffing the ground following the path Peeta and Rory made with the wild dogs yesterday evening.

The beast spots us. It freezes.

So do we.

For several long moments we're at a standoff. There's too many obstacles in my way. I can't get a clear shot.

Gale fires anyway. The arrow grazes the bear's shoulder before skittering off into the undergrowth.

The bear lets out a mighty roar and charges

Gale swears, but nocks another arrow.

I swear too. If Gale had just waited, we could have gotten a better shot or maybe the animal would have gone away. Instead, we now have an enraged bear barreling down at us and I'm not sure if arrows are going to be enough to stop it.

I get a shot and take it.

My arrow pierces the bear's chest. It's a solid hit.

The bear barely notices. It keeps coming.

Gale fires his second arrow, sticking the animal in its left foreleg.

It keeps coming.

Peeta and Rory step forward, brandishing their walking staffs in order to protect Gale and myself. We have the best weapons. If we go down, we're all in trouble. We really need to figure out a better plan for defending ourselves. Sticks just aren't enough.

Later. We have to survive the next few minutes first.

I fire again, hitting the bear's right eye. It's normally a kill shot but the bear's skull is too thick.

Partially blinded and in pain, the beast rears up swiping its claws wildly at us.

It connects.

One massive paw slams into Rory, knocking him to the ground. The boy lets out a groan and clutches at his chest. I can't see any blood but that doesn't mean he's okay.

"Rory!" Gale screams, dashing forward to drag his brother to safety.

Peeta moves in front of me, attacking the bear with his staff. It doesn't do much but it allows Gale to get Rory clear.

It also gives me a few precious seconds to line up my shot.

With the animal on its hind legs, I have an opening. Drawing my bow, I shout, "Duck!" to Peeta.

He falls to the ground and I release my missile. Time seems to slow and I notice every detail. The bowstring twangs as the arrow snaps forward.

The bear takes a swipe at Peeta, missing him by inches.

Behind me, Prim yells something that sounds like a name.

I can't hear it over the rushing of my blood.

I reach for another arrow, my eyes never leaving the one hurtling toward the raging bear.

It sails true, impaling the heart.

The beast crumples to the ground with a pathetic moan. Another arrow fired at short range into the skull finishes the job.

Peeta gets to his feet. "I can't believe it didn't kill me."

"I can't believe it either," I say, then gasp, "Rory!" I turn to see how the boy is doing.

"I'm fine," he wheezes, sitting up with Gale's help. "Just a bit bruised. The claws didn't get me." He fingers the thick leather and wool of his jacket. "My coat on the other hand…"

"So you say. You're still not getting out of an exam, young man," my mother says sternly. "Now strip."

"Here?" he exclaims, eyes darting to Prim.

"Yes, here. You can either do it voluntarily, or I'll do it for you." There's no room for argument in my mother's tone and Rory reluctantly complies.

I don't need to watch the boy be humiliated. I turn my back and start to examine the fallen bear. It's big, but compared to the mutt we killed a few days ago it looks tiny.

"I bet it weighs a good two hundred pounds or more," Peeta says coming up beside me.

"Don't you want to watch the show?" I ask, referring to Rory's exam.

Peeta snickers. "I feel sorry for the kid and want to give him a break. Gale's hovering and your sister is in full healer mode like your mom."

I nod, tugging a broken arrow out of the bear. I might be able to salvage the tip but the shaft is useless.

"Can I help?" Peeta asks.

I nod. "Can you see if you can find the arrow Gale grazed the bear with? It's not here."

He nods his head before hurrying off into the woods.

I continue with my task. Although I don't have much success. None of the arrows lodged in the bear are whole, but I'm able to recover three of the arrowheads.

Peeta comes back, Gale's arrow in hand. "So what are we going to do with the bear?" he asks.

I look at the bear and then back to him. "Eat it."

**oOo**

The next day we stay in the same place, now smoking the bear meat as well as the pig. My mother makes yet another request for salt, so Peeta and I go out looking.

We range around, searching for deer tracks. We find some heading towards the ruins near where we left the long meadow and follow them.

The tracks lead to one of the ruined buildings and we find several deer licking the ground around the outside of the structure. I reflexively reach for my bow.

Peeta stops me. "We don't need more meat right now."

I make a face but reluctantly lower my bow, a voice inside me screaming that I'm letting food go.

Peeta raises his voice. "Hey, get out of here!" he yells at the herd, waving his hands wildly.

The deer scatter before I can change my mind.

Peeta walks over to where they were just moments before. He bends down and touches his fingers to the ground then brings them to his mouth. "Definitely salt. I wonder where it came from."

"There, I guess." I point toward a large round structure with four foot high brick walls and a steeply sloped roof that has long since collapsed in on itself. "There's no other place it could have come from."

We circle the building trying to figure out how to get inside. We don't find a door. Finally we clamber up onto the ruin and move a few pieces of roofing.

I have no idea why anyone would have kept salt inside a building but the proof is in front of us. It looks like the salt has melted into the floor. Underneath the ruined roof is a huge slab of pure rock salt. We hack away at the brownish white mineral with our knives until my hunting bag is full of several large chunks. "We can always come back for more," I say. "But this should make my mother happy."

"I wonder why they kept salt in a building. It seems a little weird."

"Who knows," I tell him. "But we should keep an eye out for ruins like this. They could hold more."

We head back to camp, talking about inconsequential things, and when we get there I find my mother building something with Gale. He looks confused, but he's following her instructions.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Building a travois," my mother says.

"A what?" The word is unfamiliar.

"A travois. There's no way we're going to be able to transport this much meat in our bags." She motions to the many tripods of meat drying over smoky fires.

I come over and inspect the thing. It looks like a stretcher with one end slightly wider than the other. "And how's this gonna help?"

"We attach this to somebody's hips and they can drag it along. That way we can actually carry all of this without overloading our bags. And even better, we can keep our hands free." She gives me an amused look. "I'm sure you approve of us saving all the meat."

I nod my head. "How'd you come up with this?"

Gale answers. "Would you believe, of all things, the instructions came out of that book your mom's been reading?"

I blink in disbelief. "The romance novel?"

"Yup."

I shake my head. I guess it is worth more than just kindling.

**oOo**

**AN:  
>Written:<strong> 2/3/15  
><strong>Revised:<strong> 2/5/15

The title of this chapter comes from a Ted Nugent song about hunting. The working title for this section of the fic was written under "Oh my god the meat!" because seriously OMG! THE MEAT! The alternate title was "Hunting Haul of Doom! Now with wild dog action!" Unfortunately there isn't a song with that title so we went for "Tooth, Fang, and Claw."

When talking about this fic, we had several long discussions about how they're going to be able to store and preserve food. Sugar is limited to sap derived sugar (such as maple sugar) and they're past the ideal time for tapping trees. There's honey if they can find it but even if they can, harvesting it is a risk. Vinegar takes time and a starter. FanficAllergy knows how to make it, but it takes 6 months to make naturally and you need containers. That leaves drying, salting, and smoking.

So on to salt. They brought some salt with them but with that haul of meat, they needed more. There are salt deposits all over the U.S., including many in the Appalachians. Additionally in several northern states, including Pennsylvania where we're placing them, the road commissions use salt to de-ice their roads. That salt is stored in watertight buildings made of brick and cement with steeply sloped roofs that look like, quite frankly, Madonna's bra. We found one of those near the area we want to set this. The nice thing about salt is that even if it gets wet and dissolves, it can reform later. That's how they get salt in areas near oceans and interesting salt formations near the Great Salt Lake and Dead Sea. Salt doesn't degrade or decompose and it stays in the earth for a while. On a large cement area, it would likely still be around in small quantities. Depending on when the Cataclysm happened each of these buildings can hold several tons of salt. Peeta and Katniss found substantially less than that. Also in this area are several caves formed by oceans that hold fossils of sea life. Heck, even where FanficAllergy lives (a state known for its fresh water) there are salt mines. There's going to be a little fudging, but, Hey! Artistic License.

Randomized:

- All of the weather (including the snow)  
>- Distance traveled on the one day they traveled<br>- Everything they managed to hunt and gather - including the pig, which we were jokingly calling "the holy grail" while rolling and which Katniss managed to get  
>- What predators attacked, when they attacked, and if they injured anyone<br>- How many arrows/arrowheads survived the bear's attack  
>- What day salt was found and how much they took back with them<p> 


	8. Let Me Fly - Somewhere That's Green

**Let Me Fly  
><em>by FanficAllergy &amp; RoseFyre<em>**

**oOo**

Chapter Eight: Somewhere That's Green

**oOo**

Last Time in Let Me Fly:

_"Would you believe, of all things, the instructions came out of that book your mom's been reading?"_

_I blink in disbelief. "The romance novel?"_

_"Yup."_

_I shake my head. I guess it is worth more than just kindling._

**oOo**

We get a late start the following morning. While having the meat is a nice safety blanket and it means that we don't have to worry about running out of food, unfortunately, it also means that we have to travel slower. The travois snags on bushes and fallen trees and it takes time for my mother and Peeta to get used to dragging it behind them. Even with the travois, the packs all of us carrying are still heavy.

Right before we call a halt for the day, Peeta spots a cave. We drop our stuff under a copse of trees and Gale, Peeta, and I head off to investigate.

As we approach the cave we immediately smell the stench of bat guano. We glance into the cave and the smell is even worse. We don't even bother with a light. It's not going to work.

We head back to camp. "That cave is shit," Gale says, stating the obvious.

"Well duh. What kind of cave did you want?" Peeta asks.

Gale glances over at Peeta. "Definitely nothing with bats."

"Or bears," I add. "Or snakes. And no mutts either."

"So pretty much nothing living in the cave?" Peeta says with a smile.

I smile back. "Sounds about right."

"So what else?"

Gale shrugs. "I don't know. Dry would be good."

"Dry would be good what?" my mother asks.

"How was the cave?" Prim pipes up.

I sink to the ground next to my pack. "Full of bats."

"Ewwwwww!"

Gale sits down next to me. "That's what we thought."

"So what was this about dry being good?" my mother asks. "Was the cave wet too?"

"We didn't get close enough to find out," Gale answers. "We were just talking about what we want in a cave."

She nods. "And what did you come up with so far?"

"Nothing living in it. No snakes, no bears, no bats, no rats, no mutts." Peeta ticks off each item with his fingers.

Prim wrinkles her nose at the list. "No arguments there."

He holds up another finger. "And dry. That's as far as we'd gotten."

"Would the whole cave have to be dry? What if there's a spring inside? What if there's a hole in the roof, like a smoke hole?" my mother asks.

"A smoke hole would be nice," Gale says.

"It would also make it look more like a mine fire," Peeta points out, crouching down to start making the fire.

"A spring wouldn't be bad," I say, "so long as it's not all over. And if we don't have one, that's okay too. We just need to be near water."

"What about space?" Gale tosses out. "How big a cave do we want?"

"I think we'd want one that isn't too big, but also not too small," my mother chimes in, thinking about it. "I'd like to have more than one chamber. You know, so we could have some privacy. And I know a bedroom would be nice."

"And storage that's not in the main room," Peeta adds.

"Only one entrance could be good," Gale interjects. "It would be easier to defend."

"Defend from what?" Rory asks.

"Bears, wolves, whatever else is out there," I answer.

"It shouldn't be too visible from the air," Peeta points out. "We don't want the Capitol to spot us."

"I'd like someplace where we could actually do some farming," my mother says. "I brought along some seeds, and as long as we get them into the ground in the next few weeks, we should be able to have a decent crop."

"You're gonna have to be careful about that," Gale cautions. "We don't want it to look like a garden."

"Yes, I know," my mother replies.

"We'll need good hunting, fishing, gathering," I say. "There's no way we'll be able to farm everything. We need lots of game. Good fishing would be nice too. Not totally necessary, but it's easy."

"And I know how to make nets!" Prim offers.

"So it sounds like we really want to be near water," Peeta says, looking up from the small fire he's nursing.

"Near a river or a lake, but high enough up that the cave won't flood," I say.

"There is no way we're going to find a cave with all of this," Rory says.

Prim shrugs. "Who knows? We might. We'll never know if we don't look."

"I'd like it if the cave faced south," my mother interjects before Rory and Prim can get into another argument. "It'll get the best light."

"How do you know that?" Peeta wants to know.

She holds up the romance novel.

I shake my head. "I can't believe the Capitol would let us have a book like that."

"To be fair, there's a lot of sex, especially later on. And there's a lot of other fantastical elements. I don't think they really realized just how much research the author did and just how accurate it is. They also probably didn't see it as a threat. Who wants to go beyond the fence?"

I look around at our small group. "We did."

"Only after it became too dangerous to stay."

She has a point.

**oOo**

For the rest of that day and the next day, we soldier on. We don't see much that looks promising and because of all the noise, I don't succeed in getting anything with my bow.

We find another cave but the entrance is too near the stream we've been following and it looks like it'll flood in even a light rainstorm. It's discouraging.

The day after we find the second unusable cave is sunny and warm. I take the opportunity to scale a large tree to get a better lay of the land.

I'm glad I do. "Smoke!" I yell down to the rest of the group. "I think I see smoke in the distance!"

"How far away?" Rory asks, his desire to stop traveling evident in his tone.

I motion with one hand. "I think it's in the mountains to the northwest. It's pretty far away so I can't be sure, but I think it's smoke."

My mother smiles. "So Solomon was right."

"It's no guarantee that it's actually a mine fire. It could be something else," Gale says.

"True. I guess we'll have to get a little closer."

I climb down. "It's pretty clear this stream we've been following runs along a mountain valley. There's a bunch of hills in the area, there might be caves in them. If there aren't, we can start looking in the mountains themselves."

"Do we want to go closer to where you saw the smoke?" Peeta asks.

"No," Gale says, "that would be a bad idea. Don't you remember what they talked about in school? Going too near a mine fire is a stupid idea. There's sinkholes. There's toxic fumes. The ground becomes unstable." He punctuates each item by smacking his fingers into the palm of his hand. "The last thing we want to do is live in a cave on top of one those."

Peeta opens his mouth to say something, but my mother jumps in, heading off another argument, "I say we keep going north until we find a suitable place to live."

I'm hoping it will be soon. I'm getting sick of traveling and it's starting to affect me. I haven't gotten any game in days and I know it isn't because there isn't any game to be had, because Gale's been coming back to camp with everything from a pheasant to large rabbits.

I'm starting to feel a little useless.

I try to hide what I'm feeling from the others. But I don't succeed.

When we stop for the night on the day we spot smoke, Peeta asks if he can join me in my foraging and hunting attempt.

I agree, although I regret it minutes later. He's loud and completely incapable of quieting his steps. I do my best to show him how to avoid stepping on twigs and leaves, but he doesn't get it. Finally, unable to deal with yet another day of failure, I snap. "You're useless! This is never going to work! I don't know why I brought you along!"

Peeta freezes, going pale. His eyes reflect his hurt. "Katniss…"

I stop, open-mouthed, realizing what I just said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that we shouldn't have brought you along completely." I sit down hard on the ground. "That didn't come out right either. I know you didn't have a choice to come with us or not. I'm sorry we took you away from your family. But I'm not sorry you're with us." I stare down at my hands. "This isn't coming out right."

Peeta sits down next to me. "It's coming out fine. I know it was either this or you and Gale kill me, and frankly I'd rather be alive with you than alive without you."

I look at him and say eloquently, "Huh?"

"I know, it's weird, right?" He leans back, staring at the passing clouds. "Naturally I miss my brothers, but out here...I have an opportunity to do something I never did living back in Twelve."

I raise an eyebrow in confusion.

He continues, tilting his head to look at me. "Out here, I get to be with you. I get to talk with you."

"I don't understand."

Peeta rubs the back of his neck. "I'm trying to figure out how to say this without it coming out wrong."

"Just say it."

"I've been dreaming about this for years. I've made up whole scenarios about how we'd finally meet and get to know each other." He snorts. "Heck, one of them was we'd both been selected as tributes for the Games and then you couldn't ignore me. Stupid, right?"

I shake my head at the image. "A little. But why? I'm a nobody."

"Not to me. Never to me!" he says vehemently. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but I've been in love with you since we were five years old."

"What? How?"

"You remember the first day of school?" he asks, leaning toward me. "You were wearing that red checked dress and your hair was in two braids. The teacher asked if anyone knew the Valley Song and you did, so you stood up and sang it."

I frown. "Vaguely?"

His voice takes on a faraway tone. "I'd never heard anyone sing like that before. Even the mockingjays outside stopped singing to listen to you. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard. I didn't stand a chance and from that moment on, I was gone."

I'm a bit overwhelmed. I know Gale cares about me. But it's a more recent thing built out of friendship. Peeta's declaration is completely unexpected and I don't know what to think. "Why didn't you ever talk to me?"

"I was scared. Here you were, this amazing independent beautiful person, and then there's me." He motions to himself. "I'm not much of anything. Certainly not good enough for someone perfect like you."

"I'm not perfect."

"I know that now." He shrugs. "It's just no time ever seemed right, you know? You were always with Gale or Madge or Prim or off by yourself. And what could I talk to you about? 'I'm sorry your dad died, here have some bread.' or 'How about those Hunger Games, nice to see one of our tributes make it past the bloodbath for once.' No, better to keep my distance. At least then you wouldn't reject me."

"I guess. But what changed? I could just as easily reject you now."

"Yeah, you could. And I wouldn't blame you if you did. You don't know me." He pauses, looking around the woods. "But being out here, I finally get it. I get why you like it. It's freeing." He takes a deep breath then turns to regard me seriously. "Even if you do reject me, at least now I can say that I've talked to you. That I've told you how I feel. Everything now is up to you."

"But-"

He holds up a hand to stop me. "I don't expect you to become my girlfriend now. Or ever. You get to decide what you do with the information. It's not up to me anymore." He reaches out to take my hand, then stops himself midway. It's like he doesn't feel he has the right to touch me until I give him permission. Instead, he puts the offending hand in his lap and says, "Whatever you decide isn't going to stop how I feel about you. You're still the amazingly wonderful girl you were back in Twelve. You're still the girl who's done everything to save her family. So you're having a couple of bad days - that's all it is. A couple of bad days. Just look at everything you've done in the last week. You got the pig. You and Gale took down that bear mutt and then you killed the other bear. You've been feeding us along the way with both your hunting and your gathering. You're not a failure."

I can barely process everything he just told me. Instead, I fixate on his last sentence. "How did you know that's what I was thinking?"

"I've spent a long time watching you, Katniss," Peeta says with a light blush. "I've become pretty familiar with figuring out what you're thinking. I'm still not totally perfect, but maybe with time I'll get there." He looks down at his hands. "I'm not saying this to put pressure on you. That's the last thing I want to do. I just want you to know I understand. And I'm here for you. However you need me. All I really want is just to be with you, in whatever way you're comfortable with. If that's just as a friend, I'm okay with that. If it's something more, I'm okay with that too."

I'm not sure what to do with his confession. "So you're okay with us kidnapping you?"

Peeta smiles. "I'm getting there. Give me time."

"Does that mean you'll forgive us?"

"I forgive you." There's an emphasis on the last word. "We're friends now. Friends forgive each other. Do you forgive me for making you uncomfortable right now?"

I smile back at him. "Yeah. I do. That's what friends do."

"So as a friend, can I ask you a question?"

"I guess?" I'm a little nervous about what he's going to ask.

"What's your favorite color?"

"I don't know. That's going a bit far."

He laughs. "No really. What is it?"

"Green. You?"

"Orange."

"Like a sunset?"

A smile lights up his face. "Exactly."

**oOo**

I give up trying to hunt the rest of the day, but Peeta and I spend a lot of our time gathering plants and talking about our childhoods. I'm a little surprised at how comfortable I am, despite his confession. He's not pushing at all.

We return to camp with a bunch of stuff we've foraged. Some of the plants are things that we haven't seen before along the trip but that I recognize from the book from my father. Peeta goes over to help my mother with dinner and Gale pulls me aside.

"What's up with you and Mellark?" He asks without any preamble.

"Nothing," I say, pulling my arm out of Gale's hand. "He's a friend."

"Since when did Mellark become your friend?"

"Since he noticed I was feeling down and tried to cheer me up."

"Down about what?" His voice is confused and there's a hint of hurt running through it. "Are you regretting kissing me? You've been avoiding me ever since then."

I wince. He's not wrong. "I'm sorry? I needed to figure things out for myself."

"Figure what out?"

"Just things. I never had time to think about having a relationship before, Gale. And now I'm getting bombarded on two sides."

"Two sides? Wait…what..." Realization dawns in his eyes. "Mellark's in love with you too!"

I flinch guiltily. I didn't mean for that to come out. "Yes? He just told me."

"And now you're friends?"

"I guess."

"So what'd you say when he told you? Did he ask you out?" He demands without giving me time to respond. "Did you say yes? Do you want to date Mellark?" He's pacing, running his hands through his hair.

"No. Yes. I don't know!" I'm frustrated. This isn't something I wanted to talk to Gale about. Not now. Not ever.

He stops his pacing to face me. His shoulders are slumped and there's pain in his eyes. "What about me?" His voice pleads with me to give him some hope. "I thought you and I were good, Katniss. I thought we had something."

"We do have something!" I say, taking a step closer to him. "You're my best friend. Pretty much my only friend until now. I liked kissing you. I liked it a lot. But, I don't know how I feel about it. I'm confused. I'm frightened. And I don't know if I want to date anyone right now!"

Gale throws up his hands in frustration. "Let me know when you've made up your mind. I love you, Katniss. That's never going to stop." He comes over and takes my hands in his. "Just give me a chance. I'll wait for you as long as you need me to. But, please, just think about it."

"I will."

He nods once and drops my hands. "I'll see you back at camp."

I watch him go, wondering just what I did to get two guys to declare their love for me. It's overwhelming. I sit down heavily on the ground and stare at the canopy of trees overhead. Just what am I going to do about Gale? About Peeta? Nothing has prepared me for this.

I feel like a heroine in a Capitol soap opera.

**oOo**

The next day is uncomfortable. Gale and I aren't really speaking and he keeps glaring at Peeta. Peeta ignores him.

My mother looks at me sympathetically and I flush. I'm embarrassed that my love life is public knowledge.

To avoid everyone, I range further ahead than I normally do and I manage to get a small squirrel. I bring it back to the group and Peeta shoots me an encouraging smile. "I knew you could do it."

I smile at him in thanks.

Gale just glares.

We follow the stream until it joins a large river. By then, it's late enough that we decide to set up camp.

While everyone else does so, I take the opportunity to kill a duck and a goose that were foraging in the marshy areas along the river. When I get back to camp, there's a palpable sense of excitement.

"Katniss! Katniss! Rory found a cave! We were gathering firewood and he saw an opening up there on that hill!" Prim points south toward a large hill.

"And?"

"I wouldn't let them go look. We were waiting for you in case there was anything inside," my mother says.

I nod.

"Come on, let's go look!" Prim grabs my hand and starts tugging me toward the hill.

I want to go. But someone should stay here with our things. I'd rather leave Prim and Rory, but from the looks on their faces I can see that they'd refuse.

Peeta must see the same thing because he says, "I'll stay here at the camp and start making dinner. You can tell me how it goes when you get back." He takes out his knife and starts disemboweling the waterfowl, feeding Buttercup the entrails.

I smile at him gratefully.

Gale pauses for a moment. "Sounds good."

I suddenly realize that we're leaving Peeta alone with all of our supplies and Prim's cat. As good of a hunter as Buttercup is, he's still no match for Peeta. Gale must have thought the same thing but decided to trust the merchant. It's a huge sign of trust on Gale's part.

We fish out the flashlights we brought with us from our packs and head for the cave. We've been saving them for emergencies, because once the batteries run out we have no way of replacing them.

When we reach the cave, I take a deep breath. I really want this one to be good. I am really sick of traveling. I let it out and force my mind to become detached, analytical.

The entrance is about five feet across, big enough to fit things through but small enough to be able to defend easily. That's a good sign. The opening appears to have formed when a chunk of the hill broke off. I can see several large boulders at the base of the hill along with the remains of several trees that the rocks took with them. There's about a three foot rock ledge jutting from the base of the opening, but it appears stable enough. To the left of the entrance the hill slopes down gently, while the right is steeper. I wouldn't want to climb that unless I didn't have a choice.

I take point, my mother right beside me, shining the light into the cave so we all can see. I don't see any glittering of eyes or water. It's time to go inside.

We step into the gloom and pause to let our eyes adjust. Even with the flashlight, it's still hard to see.

I take several deep breaths through my nose while we wait. I don't smell anything. That's promising.

I strain my ears, listening for the sounds of movement inside the cave. There's a slight sound of dripping. Gale and I share a look. He hears it too. We don't know if that's good or bad.

I look around trying to pinpoint the source of the sound, taking in my surroundings. The main room is probably about the same size as our house was in Twelve. There's four dark openings spread around the outside of the room. The walls slope steeply toward the floor in the back, but near the front of the cave, they're almost vertical. The ceiling is about seven feet high.

Gale is able to reach up and touch it with his hands. "I don't see any sign of bats," he says, looking at his fingers.

I motion over to the left. "The dripping sound is coming from over there. We should check that out first."

So we do.

My mother shines her flashlight through the small opening. It's not entirely flush with the floor of the main room and we have to step up and over a lip of rock to enter this new space. The room is much smaller than the one we just left and more circular. Most of the space is taken up by a large fissure in the ground. Inside of the fissure, there's water. A pool. The surface of the water is maybe about six inches lower than the floor. My mother shines her flashlight down into the pool and... nothing. We can't see the bottom. Rory points the other flashlight up. The ceiling is higher than in the main room and we see one large stalactite dripping water into the pool.

We look around, taking in the space. My mother says, "Is that a bucket?" She shines her flashlight on it.

I head over to investigate. Next to the pool, there's a large wooden bucket that holds maybe about five gallons of water. Beside it, there's a rotting bit of rope attached to the handle.

"Someone's been here before," Gale says unnecessarily.

"Not recently," I say, examining the frayed bit of rope.

"Well, with that here, I'm guessing that the water is drinkable." My mother leans down and dips her finger into the pool and sniffs it. "It smells fine." She tastes the tip of her finger. "It's fresh. A little minerally, but otherwise it seems good."

"Anything living in there?" Gale asks.

My mother shines her flashlight into the pool again. "I don't see anything. I'm guessing this is rainwater that has seeped through the earth."

There isn't really space in this room for anything but the pool. And there's no other openings. We head back into the main room.

"So far so good," I say. "Let's check out the rest of the cave."

We continue along clockwise to the next room. It's brighter than the pool room but not much brighter. It's also larger with sloping walls and a high ceiling. There's a little bit of light filtering down from directly overhead. We look up to see a small hole.

"Well that's useful," my mother says. "We could set a fire in here and it'd look like the hill's smoking."

"Looks like someone else had the same idea." Gale gestures to the remains of a fire slightly to the side of the hole. Other than that and a small pile of what looks to be trash, the room is empty.

We move back out into the entry room and go to the next opening. It's a large empty space with several niches along the walls. There's some rubble on the floor underneath some of the niches. I bend down to investigate and find a few broken nuts and rocks. It looks like maybe an animal hibernated here several years ago. I examine the dirt floor more closely. There's no other tracks, which is good, but that doesn't mean we're home free. There's another dark opening in this room and we need to investigate it.

When we do, we discover a long narrow room. Just like in the previous room, there are several niches of various sizes and shapes pockmarking the walls. The ceiling slopes down sharply to the left of where we entered and to our right we can see daylight.

"That must lead back to the entry room," my mother says.

Rory scampers off to investigate. "Yup!" he chirps when he returns. "It does!"

The cave's pretty much perfect. Other than the entryway facing north, it hits almost everything we were looking for. It's large enough to hold all of us as well as store supplies for the winter. There's even a water source and a smoke hole inside.

More importantly it's far enough away from Twelve. We've got to be at least eighty miles away. That should be far enough that a random hovercraft won't be able to spot us.

I think we should stay. If we're going to make it through the winter, we need to settle down.

I look around at the rest of the group. They're all smiling; they've come to the same conclusion I have. We need to tell Peeta.

We head back down to camp, a spring in our step.

Peeta looks up from where he's roasting the duck over the fire. "So, how'd it go?"

"I think we've found home."

**oOo**

**AN:  
>Written:<strong> 2/6/15  
><strong>Revised:<strong> 2/13/15  
><strong>Revised 2:<strong> 3/10/15

The title of this chapter comes from the song of the same name from the musical Little Shop of Horrors.

So...the book. We're sure you've all realized just how convenient this "romance novel" is. We couldn't, in good conscience, give them a survival guide (other than the Everdeen family plant book), because they'd have no way to get one. But, the Capitol probably wouldn't realize just how useful other books could be. The "romance novel" is an anthology of the first three books of Jean Auel's "Earth's Children" series - Clan of the Cave Bear, Valley of Horses, and The Mammoth Hunters. We figured the Capitol would like it for the romance (trust us, there's a lot of sex in there, much of it badly-written), but it's well-researched and also has a ton of useful information. The Capitol would not necessarily realize exactly much useful info is in there. We figured Mrs. Everdeen read it as teenager, loved the survival and the characters and the romance, and reread it multiple times, and it's part of the reason she has so much survival knowledge. We realize it's a bit of a deus ex machina, but we do know just what it does and does not cover, and you'll see later on some things they can't learn from it. Like basket making.

We deliberately picked an area that we knew had caves. As a matter of fact, the area itself has several kinds of mines including limestone. Because there's limestone mining, that means that this likely a karst landscape. There are several large tourist caves within fifty miles of where we're putting them and one very major one approximately twenty miles away. That means there are also smaller, less showy caves in the area as well. The location that we picked - well, we know the surrounding area (thank you Google Earth), what's there, and how it works. We made sure we knew what natural (and unnatural) resources would be around them, including some that you haven't seen yet. We did fudge a little, but we're placing this about 300 years in the future, so things are not going to be exactly how they are now. We know exactly what resources they have, we know exactly where this is - there's a limited space that had everything we want them to be able to get as well as mine fires, and is in a reasonable walking distance from where we placed Twelve. You can probably figure out where this is if you start looking around.

FanficAllergy is offering to write a drabble for the first logged-in person who guesses the closest town to where we placed this. You'll see resources they have access to through various chapters and authors' notes. Have fun guessing! We'll announce the winner in upcoming authors' notes.

Things We Randomized:

- Weather  
>- How far they traveled each day<br>- Hunting/Gathering  
>- Layout of the Cave and what was in it (yes, the water seep and the smoke hole were randomized)<br>- Bad caves along the way - how many, when, why they were bad  
>- What items they found in the cave and whether they were usable<p>

So that's it for this arc!

Coming next… Interlude: Rebel in a Blue Dress - AKA: Meanwhile, back in District Twelve.

Coming soon… Arc Two: Brand New Breeze - They've found a place to live, but that doesn't mean everything is smooth sailing. Katniss has two men in love with her, what's an emotionally constipated teenager gonna do?

Let us know what you think!


	9. Interlude: Rebel in a Blue Dress

**Interlude: Rebel in a Blue Dress****  
><strong>_**by FanficAllergy & RoseFyre**_

**oOo**

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Bambi. I'll notify the correct authorities."

I peek my head over the edge of the railing to see who's at the door. It's Mrs. Mellark. She seems upset, angry, rather than sad. But when isn't she angry? Still, I wonder what she needed to talk to my father about.

My father shuts the door and turns toward the stairs. That's my cue to hide. I duck into my mother's bedroom - he never looks in here, not since she died anyway - and listen for the sound of my father's footfalls.

He's heading towards his office.

I hear the door shut and I creep out of the room, careful to avoid the squeaky floorboard at the top of the stairs. I press my back against the wall next to the door to his office and listen.

"I need to order a hovercraft," my father says. There's a small pause. He must be on the phone, probably to the Capitol. "One of our kids has gone missing."

Kids? That must be why Mrs. Mellark was here. One of her sons must have gone missing. I wonder which one.

"No. I don't think he's a rebel." Pause. "No, he's only sixteen."

Peeta!

"Yes, I'll coordinate with the local Peacekeeper Head. Please be advised, we are experiencing heavy losses of life due to the flu. It's recommended that whatever team you send be aware of this."

It sounds like he's reaching the end of the conversation. I need to get away before I'm spotted.

I slip into my room and onto my bed, picking up a novel I've been reading. It's about a woman who has a child out of wedlock and refuses to name the father and thus is ritually shunned. The Capitol sees it as 'charmingly quaint' but I like Hester's spirit and her refusal to let her public shame beat her down. There's a lot of books like that which have slipped through the Capitol's censors, I plan on trying to track down each and every one.

My father knocks on the door. "Madge? Do you have a moment?"

"Yes, Daddy."

He opens the door and comes in. "Have you seen Peeta Mellark lately?"

"Not since before school closed," I answer, slipping my finger between the pages to hold my place.

"That's too bad. It sounds like he's gone missing."

"Oh no! Do you think he's okay?" I clutch the book to my chest. "I hope he's not dead! I've lost so many friends already. Delly, Maisie, Flora. I'd hate to lose another."

My father hastens to comfort me. "I'm sure he's fine. Probably just a misunderstanding. You stay here. I've got a few errands to run. I'll be back by dinner time."

"I should go too," I say, forcing regret into my tone. I slip a bookmark between the pages of my book and place it on my nightstand. "I need to run over to the butcher. I want to try to pick up something for dinner." Ever since our maid, Rachel, died, I've been taking care of the house and doing the cooking. We need to hire another maid. I wonder if Katniss's friend's mother, the one who does the washing, would be interested. Maybe I'll bring it up with my father later.

My father nods his head. "Just don't go wandering off."

"I shan't."

I slip on my coat and head out. My first stop is the butcher's. It wasn't a complete fiction to get out of the house, we really do need something for dinner, but it's also one of the best places to get town gossip. Everyone from town shops there and the butcher's friendly demeanor encourages them to stay and chat a while unlike at the Mellark Bakery. I know that I just need to make a small purchase and the butcher will tell me pretty much the whole day's gossip.

"So have you heard about that missing Mellark kid?" Rooba asks, wrapping a few sausages for me.

Smiling internally, I shake my head. "No. What happened?"

"I heard it from my girl that he's been missing for three days now." She leans forward, lowering her voice. "That bitch of a mother of his didn't even notice he was gone until today."

"No! Really?!"

"I heard it from the horse's mouth." She leans closer. "Farl tells me that they've been playing this game on her for months. They each take turns hiding out, getting a bit of a relief from Bambi and that temper of hers."

"Poor Peeta. I hope he's okay." I mean it. I really do hope he isn't in trouble or worse.

"You and me both." Rooba glances around to make sure no one is listening. "Between you and me, I think that kid's better off running. If I were him, I would've left home years ago."

I would have too and that reminds me that there are other Mellark brothers who are anxious to get away from their mother. "So when are Reenie and Farl getting married?" I ask. Peeta's oldest brother has been dating Rooba's daughter for years and they've been talking about getting married for a while now. With Peeta's father dead, I'm guessing that timetable has been moved up some.

"As soon as they can manage it," Rooba replies, confirming my suspicions. "Reenie's still got to make it through her last Reaping, but they're planning on early July."

"Are they going to live with you?"

The butcher snorts. "Course they are! Like I'd let my girl go to a hellhole like that! 'Sides I could use a good strong man to help me out around these parts, and Farl and I have been talking about doing some meat pies, getting some business away from the bakery. Won't that piss Bambi off?" She smiles smugly at me.

I laugh. "Ouch! Hitting her where it hurts: in the pocketbook."

Rooba spreads her hands wide. "A woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do."

"Let me know how that goes."

"Will do."

I take my leave and make a beeline towards the Seam and Katniss's house. I know Peeta's had a crush on Katniss for years, and I think Katniss likes him too but is afraid to admit it. I wonder if she's heard anything. Knowing her she probably hasn't, but she's got connections at the Hob and because of who I am no one there will even talk to me.

When I get there, I notice that there are no lights on inside, which is a little strange but not totally unheard of, so I don't think too much of it. I knock on the door and wait.

Nothing.

I try knocking again.

Nothing.

I peer into one of the side windows. I don't see any movement. Maybe Katniss is napping? Or out. I slip around to the back door and try knocking there.

The door creaks open.

"Katniss?"

No answer.

"Mrs. Everdeen? Prim? Anyone?"

Nothing.

They must be out.

Maybe they're at the Hawthornes'. If I go over there, I can talk to Hazelle about becoming our maid. My father put me in charge of taking care of the household. If he doesn't like Hazelle, he can find someone else himself.

The Hawthornes' house is just as dark as the Everdeens'.

I try knocking.

Just like at the Everdeens', there's no answer.

I peek into the windows and see several things strewn about the floor. I frown. That's not right.

I try the door but it's locked. My frown deepens. Someone should be home, especially the youngest. This isn't right. This really is not right.

I walk around the exterior of the house, peeking into the windows, noticing that each room is in a bit of a state of disarray and that there's no one to be found. I worry at my lower lip with my teeth, I hope they're alright. I find the back door also locked, but its hinges are loose and I'm able to jimmy my way inside.

The house smells musty, like it's been empty for days. A feeling of dread settles in my stomach.

This is too coincidental. The Everdeens, the Hawthornes, and Peeta Mellark are all missing? That's too big for just happenstance.

I explore the house, picking it up as I go. One thing I notice almost immediately is that there's no food and nothing of personal importance anywhere. What few pictures they have are gone. There's an empty picture frame laying on one of the tables and another beside the bed. That, more than anything, spells out the truth: The Hawthornes are gone.

I return to the Everdeens' house and look at it with new eyes. It's not as messy as the Hawthornes', but clearly it hasn't been lived in in days and several personal effects are missing. It looks like they've made a run for it.

Good for them!

**oOo**

The search starts immediately. The Peacekeepers move house to house, searching for Peeta.

I'm grateful that I had the foresight to clean up after the Hawthornes, and that everything is so discombobulated from both the illness and the Seam's general unruliness that no one notices that Katniss and Gale's families are both gone.

The Peacekeepers find several dead bodies in various states of decay in houses all over District Twelve. None of them are Peeta's and none of them look to have died by foul play. They're likely more victims of the flu. But it's still gruesome and the search crews have been consuming a lot of Ripper's white liquor to get the smell and the sight of the bloated bodies out of their heads. I only heard about it when one of the men came to give my father a report and I had nightmares afterwards. I don't blame the search crews for emulating Haymitch Abernathy, I likely would do the same if I were in their shoes.

I'm in the sitting room, trying to distract myself from the most recent news, the body of a woman with two children which was found in one of the Seam houses, when my father ushers Cray in. "Have you heard anything about those bodies they found?" he asks the Peacekeeper.

"We've sent the samples to the Capitol for testing but they're backed up and the faces were too decomposed to make a visual identification. We likely won't get the results for a few months. Not like it matters much anyway, if they'd had any family left they'd have reported them dead already." Cray shrugs. "Still we gotta try to keep the records in order, but with a plague like this it's damned near impossible. In any case, we were given the okay to dispose of them to prevent any additional spread. They'll be burned tomorrow."

"Good. We don't need this to get worse."

Cray takes a seat across from me. My father sits down on the other side of the room. I know what this is. Anytime somebody disappears, their friends and family are interrogated, many times forcibly. I'm lucky my father is who he is, but I've still got to be careful, otherwise I could have a date with a torture chamber.

"So, how well do you know Peeta Mellark?" Cray starts, pulling out a notepad and pen.

He's going with the standard interrogation technique which is good for me. I know what to say and how to say it in order to keep myself safe, but not be caught in a lie. I shrug my shoulders. "We went to school together and we used to play together growing up, but I haven't seen him in a couple of months, not since this whole flu started. I heard his father died. I wish I'd been feeling better to see him since then, but I couldn't. I was sick you know."

"So your father tells me." Cray nods his head, like I've confirmed what he already knew. "I'm glad to see you've recovered. Sorry about your mother though. She was a lovely woman."

I nod solemnly, waiting for him to get to the point.

"Do you have any idea where Peeta Mellark might have gone?"

"Well no. Not really."

"No idea at all?" he presses, narrowing his eyes.

I need to be careful. I can't tell him anything that might imply I think Peeta is with the Hawthornes and Everdeens but I can't pretend I'm not friends with him either. I decide to go with what the whole town knows and build from there. I hope it's enough. "I've heard he's had some trouble at home. His mom beats on him, you know." Cray may or may not know, but it's an open secret in town and others can confirm my words. "After his dad died, I'm sure it's gotten worse. He used to come to school with bruises all the time. He always said he fell down the stairs or walked into a door, but no one ever believed him."

He makes a few notes. "So things are pretty bad?"

I nod. "Oh yeah."

"Do you think he'd run away?"

"Peeta? Maybe? I don't think so. I mean, he loved his brothers, and I'm sure he wouldn't leave without them." I'm implying that Mrs. Mellark might have done something to him and I deliberately use the past tense to do it.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that Cray gets that nuance because he follows up with, "Well, if he were to go someplace, do you have any idea where he might want to go?"

"Maybe someplace where it's warm and sunny? He loved sunsets. And he always hated winter." Actually, I have no idea where Peeta would go, but I'm assuming he's with Katniss and Gale, and they'd likely head north.

"So you think he might have gone south."

I shrug. "Probably? It makes as much sense as anything. I just can't see why he'd run!"

"Well you did say his home life was pretty bad."

"Yeah, but...it's been bad for years! Why now? And why didn't his mother notice he was missing? Why the town gossip is that he's been missing for three whole days! What kind of parent doesn't notice when their child doesn't come home for dinner?"

Cray shakes his head. "I don't know. I'll have to ask his mother that." He flips his notepad closed and stands up. "Thank you for your help, Miss Undersee. You let me know if you think of anything else."

"Absolutely! It was my pleasure. I hope you find him and that he's okay! You'll let me know if you find out anything?"

"Oh I'm sure we will," Cray says, taking his leave.

After he's gone, my father shoots me a look. "That was quite the performance you put on there, little girl. Anything you want to tell me?"

"Not really."

My father narrows his eyes and waits expectantly for me to elaborate.

I sigh. He's not going to let this go. "I didn't lie, if that's what you're asking. I just find Cray to be such an idiot!"

"It could be so much worse. I'll take this over some of previous Heads I've worked with."

I'm not sure I want to know what my father means.

**oOo**

I finish my book that afternoon. I'm looking for more books that have rebellion in them, but my father's library is sadly lacking. After reading Hester's tale, I'm hungry for more. It's really boring without school and I spend most of my time either watching old Capitol movies or raiding the school library for something interesting to read.

The sci-fi section yields some promising results. I'm especially hopeful about the one that takes place on the desert planet.

The next day, I'm not really up to reading, so I decide to sit down and watch TV. I've got a pad of paper in my hand. I'm always doodling or writing silly poems. My teachers hated the fact that my homework always had little hearts and stars and flowers and animals doodled in the margins. Peeta seemed to find it funny, but his homework was nearly as bad although most of his doodles were either of Katniss or sunsets.

I flip channels idly, looking for something interesting that isn't reruns of the Hunger Games or stupid Capitol soap operas. I don't have much luck. I finally settle on the Finnick Odair Film Festival.

They're just wrapping up the last movie of the Twilight series. Finnick is shirtless in a field of flowers, his arms wrapped around the Capitol starlet. She's staring soulfully into his eyes and I'm pretty sure she's not acting. I haven't read those books, but my mother did, and she told me all about them.

"Next up: Finnick Odair in Les Miz," Claudius Templesmith says. "And later, an interview with Finnick Odair, conducted by our very own Caesar Flickerman, to discuss the making of Les Miz."

I wish Peeta were here. He used to like to sit down with me and watch these Capitol movies with the Victors in them. One of the most painfully amusing was Star Wars starring Gloss and Cashmere Gaultier as Luke and Leia. The couple of scenes where they kissed were especially awkward and neither sibling could keep their revulsion totally off of their face.

The casting of Les Miz is a little hilarious. It's clearly a vanity project for the man playing Jean Valjean and his current lover is playing the role of Fantine. The woman can't sing, but she's still belting out the songs at the top of her lungs. I'm halfheartedly doodling a few birds and other things while I try to ignore the rail thin woman with the squeaky voice. I keep coming back to my Aunt Maysilee's pin and I sketch several variations of how the pin could be reimagined.

I look up and notice that Finnick Odair is now on screen, waving a large red flag, shirtless, with skintight pants and a tricolor belt around his waist. He's clearly been slathered in oil and he's yelling something about 'For France!'

It doesn't take long for his character to die. He's lying on the barricade, still shirtless. The camera lingers on his perfectly bloodless abs.

I look down at what I'm drawing and I look back up at the screen.

A little niggling of an idea starts to form in my head.

The next movie inspires me even more. It's Finnick Odair in Pleasantville. He's playing a Victor who finds love in the arms of a Capitol woman who teaches a naive boy all about sex. The sex scene is often cited as one of the hottest in movie history, but I'm more intrigued by what comes next. The scene that sticks with me the most is the one where the boy from the Capitol paints several inspiring scenes on the side of a building in a form of protest. I'm a little surprised that this passed the Capitol censors. I guess they were too busy being distracted by Finnick Odair's bare butt in the previous scene. I wonder if their screener tape broke from being rewound so much.

I glance down at my notepad, then back up at the screen, and then down to my notepad again. An idea, a horrible wonderful idea, comes to me.

I smile.

**oOo**

The Everdeens' house is still abandoned. Light streams through the windows and I can see the dust sparkling inside. This is perfect for what I want to do.

I find the wall exactly opposite the front door.

It's time to get to work.

I pull out a can of red paint and brushes and start my masterpiece.

I lean back an hour or so later to survey my work. It's definitely a mockingjay and it's slightly different than my family's pin. It's about three feet in diameter. I check to make sure there aren't any fingerprints or any other way to identify me and smile.

It's perfect.

And even better, no one will suspect it's me.

My next stop is the Hawthornes'. I paint a slightly different mockingjay for this one. It takes a couple of hours. That's a lot of time.

That's dangerous. I want to paint this outside, specifically on the Mellark Bakery, and I won't be able to do that unless I can find a way to paint faster. I'm sure to be caught if I'm there for more than a few minutes.

I clean up after myself thoroughly and head home. Looks like it's time for me to make a stencil. It won't be as intricate as the mockingjays I painted at the Everdeens' and Hawthornes' but it will be a lot faster and hopefully safer.

I make a few stencils of various sizes and carefully secrete them in the Everdeens' house along with the rest of my painting supplies. I can't be caught with these on me, but I can't seem to resist participating in my own little rebellion.

I think about the places that I want to hit. The school would be good. And of course the Mellark Bakery, but I'll have to watch my steps there. I would love to get the Justice Building, but that's way too dangerous. Where else can I paint these symbols? And is there anything else I can do?

I hit the school next. Soon each classroom has its own Madge Undersee original adorning its walls.

Late one night, approximately two weeks after Peeta was reported missing, I hit the Mellark Bakery.

I look at my work, satisfied. That's a mistake.

"What are you doing?"

I look over, stunned, to see Rye Mellark staring at me. "Um...uh...what does it look like I'm doing?"

"It looks like you're painting the side of my house with a rebellion symbol." He tilts his head to one side. "But surely the Mayor's daughter wouldn't do that."

"Um...no?"

He crosses his arms and stares at me.

"Please don't tell anyone?"

"What's in it for me?"

"Um...I'll let you stay at my house? I'll give you some place to get away from your mom? We could use someone to help around the house. I'm sure my dad would be fine and I know your mom wouldn't mind!" The words tumble out of my mouth in a rush.

He regards me thoughtfully. "You can get me out of here?"

I nod. "I'd have to ask my dad, but I don't think it would be a problem."

"I'm not sure my mom will be okay with that."

"Your brother's not moving out until July, right?"

His eyes narrow. "How do you know that?"

"I talked with Rooba. Your mom doesn't have to know you've moved out. It's not like she can force you to come back once you've gone."

Rye thinks this over. "It might be better if she does know. If I move out now, it won't arouse as much suspicion. She'll think she still has Farl. She doesn't know he's planning on moving in with Reenie."

"I know. Rooba told me."

His eyes narrow. "What else did Rooba tell you?"

"Not much, really."

"I'm gonna hold you to this, Undersee. You get me outta here and you get my silence."

**oOo**

Two days later, Rye moves in.

My father welcomes him and shows him to Rachel's old room. "And your mother is okay with this?" he asks.

"So long as she gets paid, she doesn't care what I do."

"Well, it's money well spent. I'm happy to have you here, son. You stay as long as you need. I just don't want to catch you up in Madge's room."

"Daddy!"

"What? I was his age once. I know what it's like to be around a pretty girl."

"I promise you won't catch me in her room, sir."

My father raises his eyebrows at Rye's wording. "I'd better not." He leaves.

"I've never seen my dad like this. He's usually so much more laid back!"

"It's all good," Rye says. "I kind of miss the fatherly lectures."

**oOo**

For three days, I refrain from sneaking out. Even though Rye's promised not to tell, I'm still nervous.

But the urge to indulge my own little rebellion is too strong to resist. Three days after Rye moves in, I can't help myself. They've been airing the Brutus MacArthur Memorial Marathon on TV. Apparently he was one of the flu's victims. The latest showing is Brutus MacArthur in Terminator. The line 'no fate but the one you make' rings in my ears.

I can't sit at home anymore.

I tiptoe towards the back door, trying to avoid notice. Unfortunately, Rye is in the kitchen, putting away some groceries.

"Where are you going?"

"Out?" I say eloquently.

"You wanna try that again? Five words or less."

"Out. For. A. Walk. Asshole."

"Such language." He puts the milk in the fridge. "What would your father say if he knew you were sneaking out?"

"I don't know because you're not gonna tell him. Remember our deal? Because I sure do. I've held up my end of the bargain, you need to hold up yours."

"If you think I'm gonna let you walk around out there and get caught, you've got another think coming."

"You'll just be in my way!"

"And you're not going to go anywhere without me. Deal with it."

I give up arguing. I don't have a lot of time and the longer we fight the less time I have to do my art. "Fine. Come on."

We walk to the Everdeens' house in strained silence. Once we're there, I get out my supplies.

"Whose house is this?" he asks.

"It's the Everdeens'."

Rye's eyes widen. "They're dead, aren't they? That's why this house is empty. Peeta would be devastated if he knew."

That's when I make up my mind. "I don't think they're dead. If they were dead, there'd still be food and personal items here."

"So? The house could've been looted. It's not like law and order's terribly on the ball around here."

I shake my head. "But Katniss was sick and got better already. You can't get the flu twice."

"So what do you think happened to them?"

"I think she and Gale Hawthorne ran away."

"You mean like lovers?"

"No, with their families. I discovered they were missing the day your mother reported Peeta was gone. When I came to tell them, their houses were abandoned and looked like they hadn't been lived in in days."

"So how long do you think they'd been gone?"

"Since about mid-April. I saw Katniss on the 14th and four days later, she was gone. They had to leave between the 14th and the 19th."

"That's when Peeta went missing."

I nod.

"Do you think he saw them leaving and they killed him?"

"No. The searchers would have found a body by now. I heard they even looked outside of the fence and didn't find anything. I think they took him with them."

"I was wondering why he hadn't asked me to go with him. Farl might not've, not with Reenie, but I would've gone."

"I don't think he planned on leaving," I say. "I think it was a spur of the moment thing."

"So why didn't you say anything?"

I tilt my chin up, defiantly. "I hope they get away with it. And do you remember the Monroes?"

"Vaguely. They had a daughter my age. Cora, I think. She was Reaped two years ago, right?"

"They tried to run before the Reaping but someone saw them and turned them in. The parents were Disappeared and Cora was selected as tribute that year. Katniss and Peeta are both my friends. I can't do that to them."

He holds my stencils up. "So what's with these mockingjays?"

"I don't know. I just wanted to do something. Have my own bit of rebellion."

"You need any help?"

"Are you offering?"

"Yeah. I'm in."

I hold out my hand. "Welcome to the rebellion, Rye."

**oOo**

**AN:  
>Written: <strong>2/15/15**  
>Revised: <strong>3/5/15**  
>Revised 2: <strong>3/17/15

The title of this fic is a play on the song "Devil in a Blue Dress." We couldn't resist.

You might have noticed that Madge is a bit inspired by pop culture. The first book she was reading was The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and the second one was Dune by Frank Herbert. Neither are rebellious enough to get banned and since sci-fi has long made social commentary without being noticed a lot of sci-fi would likely get a pass.

Then we get to the Victors in various movies. We figured that the Victors are like the sports stars of today and would be forced into various productions to keep the populace happy. Think Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Sonja Henie, OJ Simpson, and even Arnold Schwarzenegger and the fact that all of them were famous athletes first. The Victors are the sports stars of the time and the popular ones would be tapped for various projects with the producers paying Snow for the privilege. And now you get to have the image of Sam Claflin as Edward Cullen in Twilight… You're welcome...

As you may have noticed, we did kill off Brutus from the flu. He is one of four major characters whose deaths by the flu were randomized. You'll find out who the other three are later.

So that's it! We hope you enjoyed!

Up next! Back to Katniss and Company in Brand New Breeze! Otherwise known as OMG! ALL THE ROMANCE!


	10. Brand New Breeze - The Girl Is Mine

**Brand New Breeze****  
><strong>_**by FanficAllergy & RoseFyre**_

**oOo**

Chapter One: The Girl Is Mine

**oOo**

Last Time in Let Me Fly:

_Peeta looks up from where he's roasting the duck over the fire. "So, how'd it go?"_

"_I think we've found home."_

**oOo**

We've found a cave.

A place to call home.

Together with Gale, Rory, my mother, Prim and Peeta we've discovered a place that is large enough to house us comfortably with a little work. Make that a lot of work. And not that much time to do it.

We start settling in the morning after we find the cave. It's a bit of a change from all the traveling and making a home from nothing is harder than I expected it to be. A lot harder. Things I've never had to think about before are suddenly of the utmost importance.

Like going to the bathroom.

Along the way it wasn't a big deal, but now we want to make sure our waste doesn't contaminate any of our food or water. We've all seen the Games and know what happens when that occurs. Getting sick is just the tip of the iceberg. Not to mention it's gross. So, the very first thing we have to do is dig a latrine. But in order to even do that, we have to make handles for our tools.

Gale and I made the decision before we left Twelve that we would only bring the heads of the tools we wanted, other than the axes, in order to save weight and space. Specifically, the shovel, pick, and hoe. Making handles takes a couple of hours, during which I set up several snares around the cave. My mother joins me, pointing out the area of the floodplain she wants to use as a garden.

"Won't that be visible?" I ask, bending down to set a cloverleaf snare.

"Not if we're careful," she tells me. "We'll intermix the vegetables we're planting with the local plants and we won't keep the crops in straight rows. It'll be a little bit of a pain, but it's better than the alternative."

I look up at her. "Is it even worth the effort?"

"Yes, it is. I know it's hard to believe but we need more than just meat, Katniss. There's no guarantee this'll work, but it's worth a shot. Even if only half the plants make it, it's better than none, and there's no telling if we'd be able to gather enough vegetation to prevent malnutrition."

I shrug my shoulders. My mother's the gardener in the family but it's hard not to laugh. Malnutrition is something I've had to deal with my whole life along with starvation. Given the choice between the two, I'd rather be malnourished than dead. Still, a garden opens up other avenues to get food. It'll attract birds and rabbits so Gale and I should set several snares around that area. If there's one thing I know, it's that rabbits and other animals like to eat food from gardens and I like to eat them.

When I get back, I notice that Peeta and Prim are gone and so is the bearskin we brought along.

Gale looks up from where he's whittling a straight sapling into a handle. "He's down at the river with your sister."

"Why?"

"His grandparents are the furriers in town. Said he's got some idea how to tan that bear hide."

I'm glad someone does. It's a skill I've never needed. I've always sold the skins I've gotten and let someone else deal with the work.

Prim returns without Peeta, carrying a whole armful of cattails. "I figured what we don't eat, we can dry for bedding," she tells us, dropping them to the ground by the fire.

"But before we do that," my mother says, "we need to clean out the cave and do laundry. And we all could use a bath."

Gale looks up. "Before we do that, Rory and me should take care of the outhouse."

"You mean shithole," Rory pipes up.

"Rory Hawthorne! That is no language to use in front of a lady!"

"What ladies? I don't see any!"

"Excuse me! What about me or my mom or my sister? Are you saying that we're not ladies?" Prim leans forward, placing her hands on her hips.

He crosses his arms. "I meant what I said and I said what I meant."

"You take that back, Rory Hawthorne! You take that back!"

"No way! You're just proving my point!"

"You, Rory Hawthorne, are no gentleman!"

"Good! Wouldn't wanna be!"

"You two sound like an old married couple," Peeta says, walking back to camp, soaking wet and carrying the bearskin. "Maybe you should just kiss and get it over with."

Both preteens gape at him.

"Ewwww no! Gross!"

"What she said!"

Prim flounces up the hill toward the cave.

My mother sighs. "I'll go with Prim. Katniss, can you help carry the rest of the packs up to the cave? We might as well start getting unpacked."

Gale stands up with the reassembled shovel. "Rory, you're with me." He drags his brother away.

Peeta looks up. "I'll stake this out and then I'll start getting some firewood."

"Don't cut down too many trees," I warn.

Peeta smiles. "Wasn't planning on it. There's plenty of dead wood around here. I'm not the ignorant merchant that I was two weeks ago."

I'm not sure what I can say to that.

**oOo**

We have dinner inside the cave. The snares were really fruitful today and that eases some of my worries. This place has good hunting. We've just got to get enough stored before winter comes.

My mind keeps repeating that over and over while Peeta serves up a meal of the goose I shot yesterday with cattails and other greens.

My mother helps herself to some of the meat and says, "So I found something interesting while I was cleaning out the cave today."

"Oh?" Gale asks.

"In the remnants of the fire I found an empty glass jar and what was left of some old ID papers."

My mother is dragging this out. "Get to the point," I say.

"I'm getting there."

"Get there faster."

"I will if you stop interrupting me."

I growl at her.

She smirks back. "Anyway, I was able to make out the last name on one of the papers. And to my surprise, it read Donner."

"Why does that name sound familiar?" Peeta asks.

My mother turns toward him. "That's because it was Mrs. Undersee's maiden name."

Peeta blinks. "The Mayor's wife? Why would there be an ID from her family out here?"

My mother takes a sip of her tea. "Maysilee, Mrs. Undersee's sister, and I were really close friends when we were kids. She got Reaped in the Fiftieth Games and, well, you all know what happened there."

We do. Those were the Games Haymitch Abernathy won.

"She mentioned that her dad used to have a brother but she never knew what happened to him. He disappeared along with his girlfriend back before the First Games. Maysilee told me that her uncle fought for the rebellion during the Dark Days and that everyone thought the Capitol had taken them both because of that." My mother motions to the mockingjay pin that I'm wearing. "That pin there was Maysilee's. Her father gave it to her when she was Reaped. Said it was a family heirloom and that it should bring her luck."

"How do you know that?" Prim wants to know.

My mother smiles sadly. "I was there in the room saying goodbye. She was my best friend and I never saw her alive again." My mother takes another sip of her tea and sighs deeply. "I wish Maysilee were still alive so I could tell her her uncle made it this far. She'd've been proud. She never liked living under the yoke of the Capitol, always was thinking about running away or rebelling. I guess it runs in the family."

I wonder what Madge would think if she found out. She's the Mayor's daughter. I can't see her being related to rebels or being a rebel herself, she's just too shy and timid.

Gale reaches into his pack and gets out a dark wood pin. It's shaped like a mockingjay in flight. "My dad gave this to my mom when they were courting. It'd been in the family a long time. I wonder if it means anything."

"Well, Maysilee always said that the mockingjays were a sign of rebellion, showing that the Capitol couldn't control everything," my mother answers, examining the wooden brooch. "Maybe your family was part of the rebellion during the Dark Days."

Gale smiles and puts the pin on proudly. "Good for them."

**oOo**

The next day, Peeta and Gale join forces to start building a smoker. I wave goodbye and head off to see what I can hunt. I don't get very far, just the base of the hill, when I spot a deer.

My arrow is out and nocked and before I can even think, I fire. The deer drops and that's when my mind catches up. What are we going to do with an animal this large? I can't carry it on my own and we may want to keep the skin and other organs. I need help.

My mother are Prim are useless, they've gone off to start gathering and gardening and Rory is who knows where. He announced this morning that he was going to start exploring the area and no one's seen him since. I need Peeta. Only he's strong enough to carry this thing up to the cave.

I trudge back up the hill to where Peeta and Gale are working. "Peeta, I need you," I say without any preamble.

"For what?" Gale asks.

"I got a deer and I need help hauling it back home."

"I can help you with that." He stands up and starts dusting off his hands.

I wave him away. "No, you should stay here and keep working. Peeta can lift it."

Gale's eyes narrow. "How do you know Mellark can carry a deer on his own?" My heart sinks at the name change. I've somehow managed to screw things up between them and I don't know how.

"I've seen him do it back in Twelve. I mean, not deer, but bags of flour, and it's pretty much the same thing." I'm over-explaining, trying to figure out what I did wrong, and I keep coming up blank.

"Have you been watching him that much?" And that's when it hits me, Gale's jealous. How am I supposed to deal with that?

I shrug. "Not really. I just happened to notice. Why is this such a big deal?"

Gale opens his mouth. "It-"

"I'd be happy to help," Peeta interjects. "I could use another skin to practice on. I'm not sure that bearskin's gonna make it." He brushes off his hands. "Lead the way."

Peeta and I dress the deer, removing the blood and digestive organs. We haven't seen nightlock since we left Twelve, but that doesn't mean there aren't plants this far north. We can't take the chance of a perforated bowel tainting the meat.

We haul the dressed carcass back to the cave. "This should keep for a couple of days," Peeta says. "At least until we finish building the smoker. I haven't seen any insects out and it's cool in here." He stands up and stretches, cracking his back. "We should probably go get cleaned up."

We wash our hands and arms in the river and Peeta motions toward my face. "You got a little on your cheek, there."

I scrub at where he points.

He shakes his head. "You're missing it. Here, let me." He reaches out with one wet hand and wipes away the blood. His fingers linger, tracing light patterns on my cheek.

I feel a little frisson of something deep in my belly. "Peeta...what are you doing?"

His blue eyes darken with some emotion I can't identify. "I never thought I'd ever be able to touch you like this."

"Like what?"

He pulls his hand back and smiles at me, leaving me more confused than ever.

I avert my eyes uncomfortably and spot Gale walking away. From the set of his shoulders, he's angry. I flinch guiltily. He must've seen Peeta and me. This is definitely not going to help with the whole jealousy thing.

Part of me wants to run after him and explain that nothing happened. But I don't. It's none of Gale's business what I do with Peeta.

Peeta follows my gaze. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't pressure you like this."

I stand up and walk away. "You aren't."

**oOo**

The air in the cave is decidedly chilly over the next couple of days - and not from the weather. All of Gale's earlier acceptance of Peeta has completely disappeared and he's now actively antagonizing the merchant boy again. Peeta, for his part, isn't doing anything to make it better. He isn't outwardly going out of his way to bait Gale but he refuses to back down when Gale baits him and I think, but I'm not sure, he's not doing anything to avoid trying to push Gale's buttons. Nothing overt, but I can't shake the feeling that Peeta is manipulating Gale.

And what's worse is that I've realized that they are fighting over me. And I have no clue how to get them to stop.

No, that's not quite true. I do know what would stop the competition. I'm just not willing to pick a side. Both of them want a relationship with me. Both of them have stated that they are in love with me. Both of them have made it clear that it's my decision who I end up with and both of them are determined that it be them. This has led to an unspoken competition of sorts. If Peeta is able to carry more rocks, Gale has to chop down a bigger tree. If Gale manages to hunt some game, Peeta counters by teaching himself how to fish and landing a huge trout.

It never ends.

Rory, my mother, and Prim are doing their best to stay out of the competition and keep looking at me to resolve it.

I can't.

I won't.

And that just means the competition continues.

I distract myself by spending all of my time hunting and gathering and exploring the region. There's several pre-Cataclysm houses in the area and we're able to find a few useful items amongst the ruins. Most of it's small things made out of glass or plastic - a jar here, a glass there. Rory seems to have the best luck, discovering an active beehive, a bottle of wine that has turned to vinegar, and even a porcelain kitchen sink, which Peeta and Gale use in constructing the smoker.

Every time I search through one of these ruins, I wonder what caused the Cataclysm so many years ago. But I'm grateful now that some parts of that civilization have still managed to survive. Most of it's trash and unusable, but every so often we find something made of plastic, glass, or ceramic that's survived. There's even the odd bit of metal or fabric that's been kept in a plastic container that's made it through. Still, everything we find that might be of some use we bring back to the cave, nothing is going to waste.

The area we've chosen is even better than I'd hoped. There's several herds of deer and elk, I've seen glimpses of goats and cows, and I've found the tracks of pigs and bears. My mother has us start drying much of the meat that we get, putting Prim in charge of watching to make sure scavengers don't make off with it.

My sister has taken this whole "getting a new start" seriously, taking it upon herself to provide mats and baskets and furniture made out of vines and grasses. She doesn't have much success, but she's getting better. She's made several mats that we can use for drying plants and berries, and she thinks she's figured out a way to make a drying rack for herbs. Anything at this point will be useful, we don't have any furniture and will have to make everything.

Things come to a head when Rory discovers a fully intact granite bench at one of the ruined houses. It's a welcome find. But it's going to need four people to carry it up, including both Gale and Peeta.

The moment we get to the ruined house, Gale and Peeta break into an argument over who's going to do what. Gale thinks he should carry the back end because he's more agile and can prevent it from falling, while Peeta argues that he's stronger and Gale's more used to moving through the woods and thus would be able to walk backwards easier. They continue like this for several minutes.

Rory offers to take the front and is immediately shut down by both his brother and Peeta. I sigh. The only way to stop this bickering is for me to step in.

"Both of you, knock it off! You're acting like two dogs fighting over a bone! I'm sick of it." I point at Peeta. "You take the back." I turn my finger to Gale. "You take the front. Rory and I have the sides. Let's go." My tone leaves no room for argument.

Both Gale and Peeta have the decency to look ashamed and the trek back to the cave is blissfully silent.

As soon as we're back, I immediately take off to blow off steam in the woods. I can't be near any of them right now. How dare they act like I'm some kind of prize to be won? Both of them promised that this would be my choice! Both of them promised that they wouldn't put pressure on me to make a decision! What in the hell do they think they're doing? I'm so angry. I'm stomping through the woods, not finding anything. I've got to get this out of my system.

I take several deep breaths and head towards one of the small streams in the area to wash my face. I crouch down at the stream and cup the cool water in my hands. I hate feeling like this. I hate being confused. But most of all, I hate feeling so out of control. I feel the tears pricking behind my eyes and I splash the cool water against my face. What am I going to do? I don't know.

I sit down against the bank to think. How do I choose between them? Why do I have to choose? I hate this stupid soap opera drama that I'm in and I want to be out. I want this to be over.

The sound of a twig snapping jerks me out of my reverie. Something's coming.

I slowly get to my feet, my bow at the ready. I hope it's not another bear. I'm so far away from the cave and I'm not sure I could kill one by myself.

A magnificent elk steps into my sight. It's huge, with a large rack of antlers. That much meat would feed our group for a long time and we could use the antlers to make tools and other things. The animal leans down to take a drink and I line up my shot. I need to get it right through the eye. I'm not sure I'll be able to kill it otherwise.

Another crack startles the elk and it looks right at me. Its dark liquid eyes meet mine and I can see the animal poised to run.

I'm out of time.

I fire.

My arrow flies true, slamming through the large dark eye into the elk's brain. The animal drops. I feel a rush of triumph followed immediately by dread. I'm going to need the boys to carry my kill back to camp.

Crap.

And worse, I'm too far away from the cave. I don't think I should leave the elk here. But I'm not sure I have a choice. I haven't seen very many mockingjays and I'm not sure if anyone will find me before dark. I have to chance it.

I run back to camp, heedless of the noise I'm making. As I get closer I start to yell. "Peeta! Gale! Anyone!"

"What is it?" Gale yells back.

"Come quickly!"

"Are you hurt?" Peeta shouts.

"No! I need you! I need both of you!" The boys meet me at the base of the hill and I motion. "Come on! Follow me!" I scurry back to where I left the elk, trusting that Gale and Peeta are following.

We're lucky. A few crows have pecked out the eyes, but otherwise the animal's mostly intact.

"That elk is huge," Gale says.

"I don't know how we're gonna get this back to camp," Peeta answers.

"What about the travois?" Gale suggests.

"We'll probably need more than one," Peeta says, eyeing the elk.

"They're not that hard to make," Gale replies with a shrug. "I'll go back and get the travois and the hatchet. You and Katniss start field dressing the thing."

Gale hurries off, leaving me and Peeta alone.

I blink at Gale's departing form for a moment. I'm surprised they managed to work that out without sniping at each other and it's clear to me that they make a good team, but I know if I were to point that out that any teamwork they've been displaying would fly out the window. I just wish they would realize that they're a good team and leave me out of it.

I sigh. Time to get to work. I strip out of my hunting jacket. It's warm enough out and I don't want to get blood on it.

Peeta pulls out his knife and slits the elk's throat to start draining its blood. We work together, removing the stomach, intestines, and other undesirable organs.

"Do you want to keep the head?" Peeta asks.

I nod. "Antlers are useful. They're good for making tools, and if nothing else, we can use them as drying racks."

He lifts the head. "They must weigh a good forty to fifty pounds. I'll carry them."

We continue working.

"Katniss?"

I look up from where I'm working to find him staring intently at me. I raise an eyebrow and make an interrogative noise.

"I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry. You're right. I shouldn't let Gale bait me. It's not fair to you and I'm sure it's not helping my cause any."

"You're right. It's not." I turn back to my task.

"What can I do to make it up to you?"

"You could start by not fighting with Gale anymore."

"I'll try," Peeta says, making a face. "He just...he knows how to push my buttons. I'm sorry."

"It's fine." It's not, but what else am I supposed to say? I don't want to talk about it further.

Peeta doesn't seem to get that hint because he continues, "It's just...Katniss? I care for you so much, I'm just - I'm not willing to give you up without a fight. You're too important to me."

I sigh, sitting back on my heels. "I like you, Peeta. I just like Gale too."

"I know. And I'll respect whatever decision you make. But until then, I'm going to fight." He pauses and takes a breath. "Have you kissed him?"

I can't stop myself from blurting out, "Who? Gale?"

"No, Finnick Odair. Of course Gale."

I hesitate. I don't want to tell him that I have. I'm not sure if telling the truth will make things worse.

Peeta sighs. "From your silence, I take it that that means yes."

I nod my head, staying silent to stop myself from apologizing. I'm not sorry. I don't know why I feel like I should be.

Peeta takes a deep breath. "Can I kiss you?"

"Are you doing this so that you're even with Gale?" I ask bluntly.

"Kind of? But mostly I've just wanted to kiss you for so long. I'll admit I'm jealous that Gale got your first kiss. I'd be lying if I said I weren't," he answers with a shrug. "So can I? Can I kiss you, Katniss?"

I don't give him an answer right away. Instead, I stand up and wash my hands in the swiftly flowing creek. If we're going to do this, I don't want to do it with blood on my hands.

Peeta sees what I'm doing and mirrors my actions hopefully.

I look at him. He looks at me.

I'm nervous. I've thought about kissing Peeta several times, but now that I'm about to, I can't seem to move my feet.

Peeta tilts his head and looks at me. "Katniss?" It's a question. The question.

I nod my head.

He steps forward and pulls me into his arms. I tilt my head up and his lips crash down on mine. The kiss is awkward - an uncomfortable fusion of tongues, lips, and teeth. I pull away.

"I'm sorry," Peeta blurts out. "That was - that was bad. I was bad. Too hasty. Too eager. I'm sorry. Please? Let me try again?"

"Let me," I say, leaning up to pull his head down to mine.

This kiss is better, softer. His whiskers tickle against my lips.

Peeta slides his hands up my sides until he reaches my face, cupping my chin in his hands delicately.

I lean forward, drawing on my memories of kissing Gale to deepen my kiss with Peeta. This feels good. Right. My arms slip around Peeta's neck almost involuntarily. This is nice. I could get used to this.

But I don't dare.

I step back.

"Whoa," Peeta says. "That was better than any of my dreams. Just...whoa. Thank you, Katniss."

I smile. "I liked it too."

If anything his face becomes even more radiant. "So you think maybe we could do it again?"

"Maybe. But first, we've got an elk to deal with."

oOo

A couple days before my sixteenth birthday Rory comes running up to camp very excited. Gale got another elk yesterday, so we've decided to spend today doing things other than hunting.

"Guys, guys! You won't believe what I just found!"

"Probably not," Prim says, looking up from the lopsided basket she's working on.

"I wasn't talking to you."

"Good, cause I don't wanna talk to you either!"

"Before you two start with your lovers' quarrel, do you want to tell us what you found, Rory?" Peeta asks.

My sister and Rory both glare at him. Peeta just shrugs and goes back to working on constructing some kind of cooking mechanism.

"Guys, I found a bathroom!"

We all sort of stare at him.

"No, really! I found a whole bathroom! Bathtub, toilet, and everything!"

"Okay…" I'm not really sure why he's telling us this.

"No, no! The bathtub's good! We just have to get it out of the house! And there's a sink, and a mirror, and some other stuff too!"

I raise an eyebrow, most of the houses we've found have been ruins with barely a wall standing. "So the house didn't collapse?"

"Well no, not completely. It looks like it was made out of brick. And, you know, the roof's gone, but most of the walls are still there."

"And just what do you want us to do with the bathroom?" Gale asks.

"I thought we could bring it up here! Well, not the toilet, it wouldn't work, but the tub! We could have a bathtub!"

"Are you telling me that you're getting sick of bathing in the stream?"

"Well it is cold. But it would be awesome, it would feel more like home!"

"Bathing in front of everybody else?" Gale quips.

Rory glares at him.

"And just how would we get the tub up here?" my mother asks.

"Carry it?" Rory suggests. "Use that, um, travel thing!"

"Travois?"

"Yes, that!"

We all look at each other.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check it out. It would be nice to have a tub come wintertime," my mother says.

"And I might be able to use it for tanning hides," Peeta adds. "That bearskin is in pretty bad shape, but I think the deerskin will turn out okay. It'd be better if I could heat the water before washing the skins."

Prim volunteers to watch the cave. It's probably for the best; she and Rory would most likely snipe at each other the entire time and we'll get enough of that with Gale and Peeta if they decide to go after each other. The rest of us go with Rory.

He leads us to a single story red brick house with one collapsed wall, revealing several ruined rooms within, including the bathroom that he is so excited about. The place is a study in mildewed white tile and the tub is full of fallen debris. Parts of it are chipped, but it looks to be in fairly decent shape.

"How are we going to get this back? It's got to weigh at least a ton," Gale asks, eyeing the white porcelain.

"Well, first we need to empty it out," my mother says.

Most of what's in the tub is broken or so old we can't tell what it once was. The sink looks impossible to remove so we decide to leave it, and there's no point in bringing a flush toilet. Something shiny catches my eye and I brush away dust and other accumulated things to reveal an oddly shaped mirror that looks to be made up of multiple rectangles. It reminds me of some of the decorations I've seen in Capitol TV shows and I wonder why anyone owned it. It doesn't seem practical. Still, it's usable. I quickly pack it up.

We clear out the bathtub and take whatever we might be able to use. We discover it's still attached to the floor with some ruined pipes, but a couple of good hits with a brick dislodges it.

We start to drag the tub out of the house and discover that it's much lighter than we first thought.

"What's this made out of?" Rory asks. "It looks like ceramic but it's not!"

"I have no idea," my mother says. "It's not mentioned in any of the books I've read. It kind of looks like plastic, but kind of not."

"Maybe this will work on a travois," Gale says.

"We didn't bring it with us," I point out.

"So we'll make one."

"With what? The hatchet and the axe are back in the cave."

"I don't think it's that heavy," Peeta says. "Gale, you and I can just carry it, I think."

Gale looks at it. "Maybe."

We carry it back to the cave and set it up in the room with the smoke hole.

"You know, we should check out some of the other houses to see if they have tubs like this. If they're going to be this light, I'm sure we could find good uses for them," my mother suggests, looking around the cave.

I shrug. "Later. For now I'm going to go get clean."

I head down to the river to wash up.

The water is cool and it feels good to get the dirt and other detritus off of me. I scoop up a handful of water and lift it over my head. Maybe I should strip down and wash my hair. I start to take off my shirt but stop when a shadow falls over me. I look up to see Gale.

"Do you mind?" I ask, standing up. "I was looking for some privacy."

He runs his hands through his hair. "You always have some reason not to talk to me. You're avoiding me again, aren't you?"

"I'm not avoiding you!" And I'm not. Not really.

"Then why aren't you doing stuff with me? We used to hunt together all the time and now you're always off by yourself! Or with Mellark!"

"That's all in your head and you know it."

"Is it? You're still sleeping with him!"

"Because we're still sharing a watch and it gets cold at night! We've only got five blankets! What do you want us to do? Freeze?"

"Of course I don't! But why do you have to sleep with Mellark?"

"Why is it such a big deal? It's not like we're doing anything. We're sleeping. That's it. What is with you and Peeta?"

Gale runs his fingers through his hair again. "I don't know why he gets to me so much. He's not a bad guy and I'm kind of glad we brought him along-"

"Kidnapped him, you mean." I'm not going to let him delude himself as to what we did.

Gale makes a face. "Yeah. But he's been pretty useful, you know? I like him. And at the same time I hate his guts! Except for he's really hard to hate. I keep forgetting I'm supposed to be hating him and not trusting him and find myself caring about him. It's just confusing!"

"Tell me about it." I wipe my hands on my pants. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know. I didn't come down here to talk about Mellark. I came down here to talk about us."

"What's there to talk about? There is no us."

"I want there to be." His voice is soft, wistful.

I refuse to let it get to me. "You're going to keep pushing, huh?"

"I don't mean to. I mean, if you want me to stop, just tell me, I'll stop. But I don't want to give you up, Catnip. Not when I might finally have a chance to have you without the specter of the Games hanging over our heads."

The confusion wells up in me again. Part of me wants Gale. Another equal part of me wants Peeta. But the largest part doesn't want to want anyone. I can not, I will not become my mother. I don't want to break like she did when my father died. Loving one person that intensely just leads to heartache and pain. Leaving Twelve hasn't changed that. No matter who I choose, they're going to die someday, leaving me alone. I've seen what that can do to someone, what it does to me. I never want to feel like that again. At the same time, I don't want to give up entirely.

I sit down against a tree and stare at the slowly moving river, trying to figure out what I want to say. What I can say.

Gale sits down next to me, idly throwing pebbles into the water. It's the most companionable we've been in a long time, and I realize I've missed it.

I come to a decision, but I'm not ready to voice it. Not even to myself. Instead I say, "Gale, I need time. Please. I need time to get used to the idea that it's safe. That we're safe. We've been gone for less than a month. It hasn't really sunk in yet. And winter is coming."

"It's May!"

"And we have a lot to do between now and when the snow comes! We can't take out tesserae to augment our stores of food. We can't just walk into town and buy things. Everything that we eat needs to come from us. We need to provide it. We aren't going to have the coal that we had in Twelve. We don't have a stove or running water or any of that. We're starting over from scratch and I can't even begin to think about a relationship until I'm sure we aren't all going to die."

"So what do you want me to do?"

This I can answer. "I need a friend, Gale. I need a hunting partner. I've missed going out with you."

He leans closer to me, letting our shoulders touch. "I've missed it too. I've missed you, Catnip. So it's settled? We'll start hunting together in the morning."

I nod my head. "Just one thing."

"What?"

"I need you to stop pressuring me. I need you to be my friend. But I can't handle your jealousy and insecurity about me and Peeta."

He frowns.

I turn to face him. "We took him away from his home. From his family. From everyone and everything he knows. We threatened to kill him."

"You mean I threatened to kill him."

"But I didn't stop you. And that's on both of our heads."

"So what are you trying to say?"

"I don't know. Maybe cut him a little slack? Stop this stupid competition you have going on with him. We need him and he needs us."

"I'll try," Gale says. "It's just he seems to know instinctively how to push my buttons."

"He said the same thing about you."

"Did he? What else did he say?"

I'm not going to tell Gale everything. I can't tell him everything. "He said that he'd try to stop provoking you. But you need to do the same."

"It bothers you that much, huh?"

"Yeah, it really does."

"Fine. I'll try. For you, Catnip. I'd try to destroy the Capitol if I thought it meant we could be together."

"Thankfully, I'm not asking you to. Just give Peeta a break and try to befriend him." I lean against him. "Who knows, you might even like it."

**oOo**

**AN:  
>Written:<strong> 2/12/15  
><strong>Revised:<strong> 3/6/15  
><strong>Revised 2:<strong> 3/23/15

The title of this arc comes from a song by a Japanese singer named Kanon. The song "Brand New Breeze" was used as the opening credits to the anime L'Corda del Oro which was based off of a dating video game. It fits because this arc is mostly the romance and the resolution thereof.

The title of this chapter comes from the Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney song "The Girl Is Mine" off of the Thriller album. Special thanks to FanficAllergy's friend Shin for mentioning the song at just the right bloody time. The working title was "Anything You Can Do" which you can now thank us for not shoving that song into your head. Except we just did. Oops. ~_^

In our headcanon, Peeta's mother is the daughter of the furrier/tanner in town. We don't know about you, but some parents send kids off to Grandma and Grandpa to get a little adult time. We imagine that Peeta would learn some of the craft from his maternal family but he's not going to be perfect at it which was why his first attempt, the bearskin, is a failure. For the rest of his skins we're going to give him a chance of success and gradually improve it as he gets more experience.

Now we come to what they're able to salvage. FanficAllergy has degrees in History and Earth Science which covers a lot of this. Items made of glass, ceramic, plastic, acrylic, gold and a few other metals that corrode slowly will still be around. Houses made out of stone and brick will likely still have the walls standing and depending on the roofing material may still have a roof (slate shingles, cement shingles, etc.) That means that for the most part bathrooms and a good chunk of stuff in the kitchen will survive. Anything that comes in vacuum sealed plastic also has a chance of showing up. So that pair of scissors that comes in that impossible to open without scissors container may actually survive. We envision that this takes place about 300 years in the future from about 1985. Why 1985? First, cars and surviving technology. Sometime in the late 1980s/early 1990s cars transitioned from being mostly metal to mostly plastic. The books don't talk about ruined remnants of traffic jams and Katniss doesn't run into a broken down car in any of her experiences in the wilds outside of any of the districts. Second, Effie brings video tapes of the games. Video Tapes! Not laserdiscs. Not DVDs. Video tapes are pretty much dead in 2015 and one of us is old enough to remember the Beta/VHS war. That and the lack of cell phone technology tells us that the Cataclysm happened some time before these technological changes.

We arbitrarily decided based on this information that the Cataclysm occurred when Reagan in 1984 famously said during a soundcheck "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." In this alternate history, it actually aired and led to an escalation of the Cold War leading to the Cataclysm in 1985. Yay headcanons.

_Things We Randomized:_

- If Peeta successfully tanned the bearskin

- What they managed to hunt/fish/gather (including if they were successful)

- If they found anything when they went exploring and what they found

- The Donners. No, seriously. Like the Fairburns, this was a plot point that came entirely from randomization. If you want more info, go check out FanficAllergy's tumblr. There's a link on her profile.

Thanks for reading! Let us know what you think!


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